


Blackwell

by pastelten



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Author!Seo Youngho | Johnny, Colonialism, Ghosts, Historically incorrect, Horror, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Murder, Seo Youngho | Johnny is a Sweetheart, Small Towns, Southern Gothic, Suicide, Supernatural Elements, Unspecified Setting, Will add tags as I go, Witch Hunts, hes also a mess, i swear the character death isn’t really sad, ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-09-24 12:14:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17100398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelten/pseuds/pastelten
Summary: She looks down at him, at the rosary fastened firmly around his neck. In her soft, molasses slow drawl laced with pity, she murmured,"God can't save you now, boy."When Johnny moves down to the little town of Blackwell, he expects to find himself living a quaint life consisting mostly of writing in isolation and calm, thoughtful strolls. Instead, he finds himself pulled into a world of secrets and scorching glares, which seem to become all the more tumultuous when he meets a small, dark haired boy as profound as the river itself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! this is my first time ever publishing something i've written, and i really hope you can all fall in love with these characters as much as i have writing it. enjoy <33

It seemed to Johnny that he had been driving for an eternity, making his way down the winding road with the black rotted trees looming above him, hanging with spanish moss and shrouded in a dense blanket of early morning fog creating a timeless pocket within his limited line of vision like its own dimension. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel absentmindedly, he continued down the dark path, mind static, staring into the fog. The fog stared back, it seemed, judging the newcomer as, he would learn, all things in this place did. The constant noise of the city was nice, but it had drained his inspiration which, as an author, he could not afford. His friends were back in the city, his family, and he would miss them dearly, but this was something he had decided that he needed, something essential to his work, his livelihood. He could always call, always visit, it was not like this decision was his ultimatum, and he could always return. So, he had packed all of his belongings into a few small boxes and left the city late at night to head for his family’s house down south, which had been abandoned for generations. 

Eventually, the wall of fog gave way to the first washed out, desolate houses, signaling to Johnny that he had finally reached the edge of the town he would learn to call home. He continued to drive further into the town, passing by splintered buildings, empty, lifeless houses, a crumbling church with an overgrown, crumbling graveyard accompanied by an even smaller, seemingly separate graveyard further off, stretches of dark, archaic forest in between. Finally, the shambled buildings and wild greenery began to turn into quaint homes and crawling street corners, fog still filling all the empty spaces, giving the illusion that the town itself was formed out of the heavy mist. 

After some time, Johnny pulled into the driveway of his soon-to-be residence, gravel grinding under the tires of his car. The house had two stories, was built out of rough, dark wood, and had a small porch wrapped in screen which contained a porch swing that seemed much too splintered to comfortably use. Keys in hand, he pushed the car door open, stepping out onto the gravel and taking a deep breath of heavy air as he raised his arms over his head, stretching his back with a satisfying pop. 

Already, he could feel how different the climate was from what he was used to. The summer air was heavy with humidity, muggy, different from what he was more accustomed to up north, from where he had come. He began to walk up to the house, even the crunch of the gravel and dead grass sending the same message he’d been receiving during his very short time there so far; he was not welcome here. Stepping up to the creaking porch, he pulled open the screen door before unlocking the heavy wooden door of the house, stepping inside. The interior of the house was very empty other than a few pieces of furniture covered with sheets of white fabric, the dark wood of the floor caked with a thick layer of dust. He sighed. The house would require a lot of work to be back into a habitable condition, hours probably. After returning to his car to retrieve the necessary cleaning supplies, he rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.

☽

Johnny had finally gone to sleep that night after hours of sweeping, dusting, scrubbing, moving the few boxes he had brought with him into the house, and a short call to his best friend back in the city, Jung Jaehyun. The younger boy had initiated the call, wanting to check up on his closest friend, his brother, almost.  
The two had grown close in their childhood, growing up as best friends in a close-knit korean community in the city. The younger had approached a seven year old Johnny in a playground, recruiting him to play on the swings, and they had become fast friends, bond growing from there. They’d stuck with each other through everything, and Johnny would trust the other with his life. He’d received the call shortly after having eaten dinner, phone buzzing insistently from the side table. Spotting the contact displayed on the little black screen, the corners of his mouth pulled back into a slight smile, kicking his legs up onto the couch and leaning back as he answered the call. 

 

“Hey man, what’s up? How’s the move going?” Jaehyun’s voice drawled from the speaker, sounding much more awake than Johnny felt.

 

“Pretty good, so far. I managed to get this place cleaned up a little. You should’ve seen the state it was in when I first got here, man, I know it hasn’t been lived in for a long time but damn.” He always found himself to be much more casual in his words when he spoke with Jaehyun. There was something about the amount of trust between the two of them that just made him relax subconsciously.

 

“Well, I’m glad you’re settling in well at least. Oh, Tae told me to say hi, by the way, and that he hopes you can survive on your own without, quote, ‘your lovely, generous roomates delicious homemade meals’. His words, not mine.” Johnny snorted, reclining further into the couch, avoiding a particularly hard spring in the cushion. He should probably replace that. 

“Yeah, sure,” he snickered, “tell him I said hi back, and that I’ll survive. Or he could just call me himself, either one. How’s school going?” Jaehyun was still working towards his degree, aiming for a medical doctorate. He was hoping to be able to work as a pediatric care physician. Johnny himself had graduated the year before, all his years of hard work and microwave ramen paying off in the form of a degree in classical literature. 

“Pretty good so far. I’m applying for internships at a few practices. I probably won’t get accepted into any of them, but hey, a dude can try, right?” He laughed softly, nervously, and Johnny rolled his eyes. 

“Come on dude, I’m sure you’ll get in. Cut yourself some slack. You’re incredibly talented, and smart, and you care so much. They’d be fools not to accept you.” On the other end, Jaehyun sighed.

“Yeah, I guess.”, he replied, “Thanks man, that really means a lot to me.” Johnny smiled.

“No problem.”

From there, the two of them slipped into the easy, comfortable pattern of communication that came from years of deep friendship. They passed the time quickly, clock reaching eleven, and they ended the call, promising to contact each other often. Johnny retreated to his bedroom, wrapping himself in the warm blankets of his new bed. Surrounded with a plethora of stuffed animals, he succumbed easily to the throes of sleep.

☽

The next morning, he woke to a blade of honey gold slicing through the curtains, illuminating specks of falling dust. He took in a deep breath, preparing to face the day, and slowly forced his eyes open, taking a moment to adjust to the light. After stretching and rolling out of bed, he sleepily stumbled his way to the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. Sighing as the steaming water hit his back in a torrent, he rinsed the final traces of sleep out of his body. Donning cooler clothes than he had worn the day before and grabbing his keys, Johnny headed out in search of food rather than venturing to rummage through the small amount of non perishables he had brought with him. He made a mental note to go shopping later. 

Walking down broad street, he could feel the eyes of the townspeople searing into his back, a feeling he would soon be familiar with, decidedly ignoring the negative attention he was receiving. He found himself in a small diner after some time, sitting himself in a plush red booth, surrounded by the smell of grease and the calamity of pots and pans clashing in the kitchen. Surveying his surroundings, he noted the absence of people in the little diner. He had arrived quite late in the morning, skirting around the edges of afternoon, much later than he usually preferred to eat, and had managed to miss the morning rush, quickly unlocking his phone and. A few minutes later, he was approached by a stout, grey haired waitress with deep smile lines carved into each of her features. In a southern drawl, smooth and slow like molasses, she began,

“Good morning, do you know what you’ll be having today, or would you like to start with a drink?”

“I think I’ll start with a drink, please.” he answered quietly.

“Alright, then. And what will the young man be having to drink?” He smiled up at her.

“Just a black coffee, please.” The waitress nodded her head, smile ever present, and moved to jot down his request.

“You’re new around here, aren'tcha hun? What brings you to Blackwell?”

“Work, really.” he replied absentmindedly. “I’m an author. Needed a change of scenery, to get out of the city.” She nodded, beginning to turn away. 

“Well, we’re always happy to have new faces around here. Welcome to Blackwell, sweetheart.”

“Yeah,” he muttered to her retreating form, recalling the poisonous glares that had pursued him earlier, “I’m sure.”

☽

The town of Blackwell was very much like the river that it drew its namesake from; quiet, unseemingly hostile, and filled to the brim with secrets. It was a small town containing only a couple hundred residents, the majority of which were senior citizens. Due to the small number of citizens, everyone knew everyone, and the town was extremely unwelcome to even the thought of outsiders, a quality which everything down to even the air seemed to adopt. It was because of this that Johnny felt eyes follow him wherever he went.

He found himself slipping into a pattern. In the early mornings, he would head to the diner and sit through a few cups of coffee and a biscuit, chatting aimlessly with the waitress he had met on his first day. She wore her rosary a bit too reverently and smelled of cloying rose perfume, but she was kind and slipped him extra food whenever possible by reason that, according to her, he had loneliness in his eyes. Once he left the diner, he would walk. 

He would walk through the woods behind his house, surrounded by the sound of rustling leaves and the aroma of rich earth, shrouds of fog or, on rare occasions, dots of sunlight shining through the leaves. He would walk by the old, decrepit church, and through the graveyards, carefully treading through the taller patches of grass, mindful not to step foot on any graves. He would walk by the river in the forest, Blackwell river from which the town drew its name, torrents of dark untamed water jumping over and crashing into rocks before heading on its way. He would walk, and he would think, drawing inspiration from the nature, finally free of the constraints the city set upon him. Then, he would head home, and would begin to write. He would take a break to make lunch, and then he would write some more, finally stopping only after a hours of work. He used the time between when he finished writing and dinner to complete any errand he may have, from cleaning, to buying groceries, to just wandering around the town, learning his new surroundings. He would wander the streets, stepping into small shops selling assorted trinkets, family owned bakeries filled with aromatic treats, and various other little gems and hidden corners littered throughout the town. Then came dinner, more writing, and finally, came sleep. It was repetitive, but he’d never been so productive in his life, words coming to him easier than ever before, creativity pouring out of him like the river he frequented. 

He felt free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! i hope you've all been having a good week so far, im personally crying over tens thailand cam. i had a lot of fun writing this chapter (though it is a bit short, apologies for that), as i hope you'll all have reading it, enjoy!! <3

Johnny considered himself a fairly punctual person. He tried his best to stay on schedule, follow whatever guidelines were set out for his day in order to have a semblance of an idea of what he was to do. That was why, when he woke to the digital clock he had recently purchased displaying twelve noon, he leapt out of bed, stumbling as his long legs became tangled in the white sheets. There was no real temporal obligation he had that day, but by personal standard he felt the need to remain on schedule, racing to his closet to throw on an outfit, forgoing a shower in favor of reaching the diner as fast as possible in an attempt to save his day, get it back on track. After throwing on the first clothes his fingers touched, he dashed through his house, taking the steps two at a time, grabbing his keys as he ran, and flying through the front door. Deciding to take his car for once, he rushed to the diner, reaching it just as other customers were arriving for lunch. 

Sliding into his normal seat (which was, thankfully, vacant, despite the amount of customers), he began flipping through a menu, fiddling with the edges to slow his heart rate despite the fact that he already knew his order to heart. Finally, the waitress, who he was now very well acquainted with, began to make her way over to his table, bright smile overtaking her features. 

“I thought we’d be missing you today, hun. Sleep in?” He laughed in relief, letting himself relax back into the comfort of the upholstered booth.

“Yeah, stayed up late writing last night. Thought I could pull it off without any repercussions, and here we are.” Her smile widened.

“Well, at least you made it by. I reckon I’d rather see you late than go a day without seeing my favorite author, now, wouldn’t I. Same order as usual?”

“Oh, I don’t know, you could probably go a day without me bothering you,” he teased, returning her grin, “and yeah, usual sounds good.”

“Oh, hush your mouth, you’re no bother to me. Regular, coming right up.”  
She turned on her heel, scribbling his order, which she now had memorized, onto a pad which she pulled from her apron, and heading for the kitchen. 

Tilting his head down towards his hands, he began to consider what changes he would need to make to his daily schedule to allow for some semblance of normalcy. The usual post-diner stroll was essential, as it allowed him to draw inspiration from his surroundings in order to write more substantially. Of course, he also required a certain amount of time at his disposal for the process of writing itself. He decided that the best course of action in his case was refrain from wandering the town, and to cut the time of his walk by just a bit to allow for adequate time to write later in the day. 

Eventually, his food arrived, and he scarfed it down rapidly, burning his mouth slightly in the process as a result of his self imposed time restraint, and the fact that it was much past when he would normally consume breakfast. After much rapid breathing and a hand fanning wildly in an attempt to cool the scalding food he had foolishly shoved into his mouth, he managed to finish his meal, paying for the food and leaving a generous tip for the kind waitress in his wake, before dashing out the door to begin his walk. 

☽

It was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon by the time that Johnny finally reached his destination, not having had the stamina or the stomach to run the entire distance between the diner and his preferred pacing grounds after he, for some foolish, foolish reason, had decided to leave his car in the parking lot of the diner in favor of walking. He, of course, could have wandered elsewhere, but he found that the specific atmosphere around the decrepit church and the river suited his tastes all the better. He began around the graveyards bordering the church, meandering carefully through the tall grass, losing himself to his imagination, retreating to his own little world within his mind. 

Eventually, he made his way from the church to the woods, surrounding him with the sound of the wind rustling its way through the leaves of the dense trees, which was gradually joined by the sound of rushing water. He approached the river at the same slow pace he had been maintaining, letting his ears lead him to the water. As he advanced towards the stone bridge that arched over the torrents of the river, he found his attention being drawn towards something quite peculiar. It took a moment to register, after which he was able to make out a human figure lingering on the bridge. This wasn’t that unusual, per se, but Johnny was quite used to being the only person to approach these areas, most of the locals harboring a strange aversion to them. 

Upon closer inspection, the figure was, in fact, not standing on the bridge. Rather, they were sitting precariously on the edge, legs swinging jovially. Johnny sped his pace, wanting to warn the other back towards the solid ground of the bridge, tell them off for the risk that they were taking, the danger that they were putting themselves in. As he approached the bridge, he called out to the other, toeing the line between speed-walking and jogging at this point. 

“Hey, watch out on the edge over there! That’s really dangerous, a fall from that high would probably be fatal, you know, be careful!” 

The other startled at his words, twisting their torso around to lock eyes with him. It was a boy, much smaller than himself, petite even, with dark hair and slanted eyes, clothed in what seemed to be a cotton button-up shirt, loose black pants that ended just below his knee, and a rosary hanging from his neck. The boy cracked a mirthful smile, swinging his legs over the rail he was perched on to better speak to Johnny, mischievous twinkle present in his eyes.  
“Ah, don’t worry about me too much, mister. I appreciate the concern but I know the dangers all too well, thank you very much, I’ll be fine.” Johnny rolled his eyes, exasperated. 

“Whatever you say, just be careful, alright? Wouldn’t want you falling off.” he stated sincerely. The boy cocked his head to the side, gazing at Johnny curiously.

“Why do you care so much, mister? You don’t even know me, why should my safety be of any concern to you?” He seemed genuinely confused, as if he couldn’t fathom the idea that a stranger would be able to muster up any of level of concern towards someone that they had never met. Johnny sighed,

“I don’t know, I guess just… human decency? I wouldn’t want to see you hurt. So be careful, please.” The boy laughed, light and airy, hopping down from the railing and making his way over Johnny, bare feet treading carefully over the forest floor. 

“What’s your name mister? I don’t recall having seen you around here before. Then again, I don’t really recall having seen anyone around here recently, so I suppose that’s to be expected.” The boy stopped in front of him, having to crane his neck up in order to make eye contact with the taller male. Johnny was, inexplicably, suddenly much more nervous due to the closer proximity of the smaller. Up close, he was able to observe that the other seemed to be around Johnny’s own age, older than he’d originally calculated due to the boys small stature, and had a nose that curved upward and a small mouth with slightly pouted lips, face dotted with the occasional freckle. If Johnny was being honest, the boy was extremely attractive, ethereal even. He was pulled out of his thoughts by small fingers snapping at speed in front of his face. 

 

“Hello? Were you so surprised by having been asked for your name that your feeble little mind was forced to shut down?” His words were cruel, but he wore a blinding smile on his face, indicating that on some level, he was joking. Johnny chuckled nervously, reaching back to scratch his head, eyes shifting. 

“Yeah, sorry uh, my name’s Johnny. You said you haven’t seen anyone around here recently, do you come here often? I’ve haven’t quite seen you here before either.” The boy cocked his head again, mouth slightly open, quite resembling a puppy. He really was adorable. 

“Oh, I’m here every day,” the boy replied, quirking one side of his mouth up into a half smile, “if you come here so often, how come I never see you? I never miss a day.” Johnny hummed, contemplating.

“Could it be times? I’m not normally here around this time, because of my schedule I usually come some time in the morni-”

“Ah, yes, that could very well be it,” the boy interjected, “I tend to only be here in the afternoon, that would explain.” Johnny cocked his head in confusion at this, the boy mirroring him, before shaking his head internally. “Regardless, it’s nice to meet you, Johnny.”

☽

Johnny passed the rest of his afternoon caught up with the boy by the bridge, chatting aimlessly until the sun began to dip below the horizon, casting the misty forest in a fire-like glow. They talked about everything and nothing, simply enjoying the others company. Eventually, as the sun began to set, Johnny finally realized just how much time had actually passed, panicking and rushing to get home. Before he left, he asked the boy if he wanted his number in order to retain contact with him, to which the boy only replied that he did not have a phone, and if Johnny wanted to reach him, he was to meet him at the river at the same time he had first encountered him, on any day. After that, they had said their goodbyes, and Johnny retreated back to his house. 

As soon as he reached home, he flung himself into his writing, finding himself extremely productive despite the fact that he hadn’t really had that much time to think about his work. He got a great deal done, then retreated back downstairs to make himself a meal. After he ate dinner, he withdrew upstairs and called Jaehyun, chatting about their days and the small, dark haired boy that Johnny had met. It wasn’t till much later, when Johnny was preparing to go to sleep, that he realized he’d never quite gotten around to asking the boys name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! feel free to drop a comment telling me what you thought, or come join me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/pasteltyongs) see you next week~ <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy friday everyone! theres a lot more ten in this chapter, finally. i was worried i wasnt gonna be able to update on time because i was kinda far behind writing this chapter, but through the power of comic sans i managed to get this done, thankfully. enjoy!!

Following their first meeting, Johnny gradually made adjustments to his schedule to include the boy. The most immediate change was the movement of his daily walk to the afternoon, matching his schedule to the others. They began to grow closer as time went on, bond forming from their second meeting in which Johnny finally learned the boys name. In all honesty he had been scared that his initial meeting with the boy had been a figment of his imagination, or perhaps a startlingly realistic dream. To his relief, when he arrived the next day he was greeted by a small form dangling their legs over the edge of the bridge, and a cheshire smile. 

“You came,” the boy greeted him, voice soft yet holding unquestionable power, “wasn’t sure if you’d actually show.”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Johnny replied, striding confidently towards the center of the bridge, corner of his mouth twitching up.

The boy hummed thoughtfully before replying, “I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t really think you had any reason to come back.” He smiled sadly, eyes darting up towards Johnny, expression lifting before he continued, “I’m glad you did, though. I get lonely up here, it’s nice to have someone to talk to.” Johnny cocked his head in confusion.

“If you get so lonely why don’t you ever come up into town? I’m sure you could find someone to talk to there, even if they aren’t the most… open to newcomers. You’ve been here for a while though, right? You must know someone.” Johnny reasoned, bothered by the idea of the adorable male being lonely.

The smaller just laughed, leaning back on the railing, legs still swinging in the air. “Actually, I tend to just stay up here. Cabin in the woods, you know? Get my groceries delivered, so I don’t really have a need to go into town. Plus, it isn’t always lonely. It’s peaceful up here, and I have the forest to keep me company.” 

Before Johnny could interject to question how strange his reasoning sounded, he continued. “Enough about me, though. What brings you here? What do you like? Who is Johnny, and what should I know about him?” Once again, the boy flashed him the dazzling smile that seemed to be ever present on his face, swinging his legs around to face Johnny on the railing and patting the spot next to him, beckoning the taller to come sit next to him. Johnny chose to keep standing, still not willing to put himself in such a dangerous position.

“Yeah, um, okay. I’m Johnny Seo, I’m from Chicago, I’m an au- why are you laughing?” Johnny pouted. The other boy had begun snickering as he spoke, cheeks red and mouth shut tightly, obviously trying to contain the sounds. He waved a hand in dismissal.

“Sorry, sorry, it’s just…” he trailed off, looking up at the other from beneath his lashes, smile slowly creeping its way back onto his face. Johnny sighed, exasperated

“What is it??” The boy tilted his head up, smirk painted on his face.   
“Sorry, you just… kind of seemed like a nervous kid introducing yourself to your schoolhouse” He dropped his smile in favor of an timid, nervous expression, wide eyed looking up with his mouth hung slightly open “I-I’m Johnny Seo, I’m new here, please don’t be mean to me” he mimicked, shit-eating grin appearing on his face as Johnny glared at him, expression lacking any real anger. 

“Fine then, I won’t say anything else if you’re just going to make fun of me.” he whined, pout making its way onto his face once more. 

From the railing, the other cooed at his expression before replying, “Oh, come on, I was kidding, I would love to hear more about you, please continue.” Johnny crossed his arms and shook his head, lips pursed and nose wrinkled. The smaller sniffed and pouted up at him, quite resembling a kitten, and how could Johnny resist those eyes. He really held too much power over him, for someone who was virtually a stranger to him.

“Fine. As I was saying before I was oh so rudely interrupted,” the boy scoffed at that, eyes rolling, “I’m an author, I just moved in from Chicago, my name’s John Seo but everyone just calls me Johnny, um… I really like black mirror? I’m not really that interesting, sorry.” 

“Oh please,” the boy responded, head tilting, “I’m sure you’re plenty interesting. You said your name is Johnny Seo? Seo’s an interesting last name. Fitting. You’re an author, wanna tell me about what you’re working on now? Also, what exactly is a black mirror?”

At that, Johnny’s eyes lit up, and he began to ramble about his current novel, hands gesturing wildly. Eventually, they began to move from the bridge, instead walking by the river and near the collapsing church, the smaller male hopping around the gravestones closer to the church, energy much too bright for such an area yet seeming all the more at home, demeanor making him fit in with any setting. They walked till the soft glow of lightning bugs illuminated the trees, and the soft chirps of crickets and frogs alike filled the humid summer air, the boy listening intently as Johnny rambled on about his novel and his favorite show. They began to part ways, but before they got too far, Johnny spun on his heel, jogging a bit to catch back up to the other.

“Wait!” he called, causing the other to pause and turn to face him, “I never got your name, I can’t keep thinking of you as the cute boy from the bridge.” Before he could catch his mistake, the others face broke out into a mischievous smile.

“Cute, huh? I’m honored, the great author Johnny Seo thinks I’m cute.” The boy snickered as Johnny began to stutter, red blush creeping onto his cheeks. Before Johnny could make a case for himself, the other continued, “If you really need a name, you can call me Ten,” he paused, and his eyes glimmered with mischief, “but ‘the cute boy from the bridge’ works just fine.” 

☽

“How are your classes going?” Johnny asked into the receiver much later that night, feet kicked up on the couch, staring at the television, grasping blindly from a bag of off brand potato chips. He received a defeated groan in return, sudden spike in volume making him flinch.

“Awful. You know, I thought it’d be at least a little easier to take the online summer course to free up space on my schedule, but they’re just using the extra time that comes with not being during the school year to drown us in work. I haven’t left my dorm in a week, Johnny, a whole week.” Jaehyun whined from the other line. Johnny just laughed.

“Let’s be honest here, Jae, would you have left the dorm even if you weren’t busy?” Jaehyun grumbled, abstaining from saying anything in return, which gave him away more than if he were to respond. His friend knew him too well. Johnny rolled his eyes, taking a swig from the can of beer he’d had resting on his side table before pushing their conversation on with another question.

“How’s Tae? Still crushed over the hollow absence of his devastatingly handsome roommate? How far into bleak despair has he fallen?” Johnny teased, causing Jaehyun to snicker.

“Yeah, right. I think he went to four different parties in one night last week, I really don’t know how he does it. Apparently he was so high when Yu dropped him off that he started petting that god awful fuzzy brown couch pillow and asking whos cat it was and if he could keep it.” Johnny barked out a laugh, honestly not expecting any less from his strong willed friend. 

“How’s it going down in your little hick town? Rode through town on a donkey yet?” Johnny rolled his eyes and sighed at his friends question, used to this type of thing from the younger.

“Oh, shut up. I’ve gotten a lot of work done on the novel, I’m really happy with where it's going, so far. This place has been really good for me, I made the right decision coming here. Oh, and I met someone. Think I made a friend.” At this, Jaehyun hummed, metaphorical ears pricking up.

“Oh? And what is this friend like? Gimme the good shit, I gotta size up the competition, can’t lose the best friend title.” Johnny tsked, finishing his chips and moving towards the kitchen to dispose of the bag.

“Chill, you know too much to lose that spot. He’s… interesting. I don’t know him all too well so far, but I definitely want to get to know him more. He has this... energy to him it’s unreal, like sometimes I can’t even believe he’s a part of this world.”

Jaehyun hummed. “Is he cute?” Johnny blanched for a moment. He hadn’t been prepared for a question like that out of the blue.

“Er… yeah, I guess. Hadn’t really thought about it, how come?” Jaehyun oohed, and Johnny could practically see his shit-eating grin. Oh no.

“Oh, nothing. You were talking about him the same way you talked about… Kim? When you first met him. It’s like your patented pre-whipped voice.” Johnny scoffed for the umpteenth time in that conversation, rolling his eyes at his friends claim.

“His name was Kun and I do not have a so called ‘pre-whipped’ voice. What even is that? You’re ridiculous.”

“You’re in deniiiaaal,” Jaehyun sang, “we both know you just don’t know him well enough to have full on feelings for him, but you’re interested. Trust me, I know you, Johnny boy.” If Johnny had a nickel for every time Jaehyun had caused him to roll his eyes during that call, he’d have enough to pay off his student loans.

“Yeah, whatever. You’re delusional, Jae, he’s just some dude I met in the forest, nothing more.” At that Jaehyun coughed.

“Excuse me, what.” Jaehyun sounded incredulous, sudden change of tone catching Johnny off guard, confusing him.

“What do you mean what?”

“You said ‘just some dude you met in the forest’? You just met some dude in the forest and went ‘yeah, this one’s friend material’? What if he’s an axe murderer! He could be some sort of convict on the run for all you know!”

“Oh please, Jae. It wasn’t as sketchy as you’re making it out to be, chill. Plus… no offense to him, but I really don’t think he has the physical capacity to be an axe murderer.”

“You’d be surprised, J, little dudes move fast. One minute they’re chilling, then BAM, you’re on the ground with your throat slit.” Johnny hummed at his friends antics, giving him a moment to calm from his burst of hyper energy.

“Just… trust me, dude, he’s safe.”

“Whatever you say, man. Be careful though, please. Fucker starts acting suspicious, you punt him. It’s easy to do that with the little ones.” Johnny burst into laughter at the suggestion, clutching his stomach and leaning over from where he had settled himself against the kitchen counter.

“Oh shit, I think I just heard glass break, I gotta go check on Sicheng. Love you man, talk to you again soon, hopefully?”

“Yeah, man, I love you too, I’ll call you tomorrow.” 

The line went dead, and Johnny stowed his phone safely in the pocket of his sweatpants, moving to do the dishes. After taking care of a few chores around the house and brushing his teeth, he retreated to his bedroom, slipping under the covers with a sigh and falling easily into a deep sleep.

He dreamt of slanted eyes and a radiant cheshire smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter, alternatively: jaeten unknowingly cheeky tag teaming johnny
> 
> thank you for reading!! <33


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!! this chapters a little longer than the other ones, i know it's not that much, but im really happy with it. as always, i had loads of fun working on this, and really hope you enjoy it <33

The main thing that Johnny had learned from his many attempts to gain more knowledge about Ten was that the boy simply hated talking about himself. As soon as the focus of their conversation was directed towards the smaller male, he would become distant, changing the subject as soon as he possibly could. This didn’t go unnoticed by Johnny, who was curious as to why the other refused to divulge more than small facts about himself.

He sat in his usual spot in the diner, pouring over what he had managed to learn of the other during their time having known each other. Ten was witty, and always seemed to know what to say in response to anything that may be thrown his way. He was comfortable in any setting, had the ability to make himself fit in any situation. The forest was like a second home to him, it seemed, the boy spending so much of his time there enjoying his surroundings that it had somewhat became an extension of himself. Other than that, all he really knew of the other was that his name was Ten, he held a particular affinity for the abandoned areas neighboring the church, and he was absolutely enthralling.

He was snapped out of his reverie by a polite cough from the waitress he had grown to appreciate more and more as the days went by, wrinkled hand swirling the dark liquid round the coffee pot in a silent question. He nodded, throwing her a thankful smile as she refilled his mug.

“How’s my favorite waitress doing today?” He asked, voice sweet as honey, pleased when the age lines framing her eyes crinkled up as she smiled. She had really come to mean a great deal to him, a shining beacon of unfaltering kindness in a sea of greyscale hostility. 

“Oh, thank you for asking hun. I’ve been quite fine, actually. Had a bad feeling though, recently. Don’t know what it is, but something's coming. Be careful, boy. Same order as always, I’m assuming?” The lilt of her accent was comforting, but her warning stained the sentence, filling Johnny with inexplicable dread at the sudden change in atmosphere. 

“I will. And same order works, thank you.” He ignored the churning in the pit of his stomach in favor of handing her the menu that had been given to him out of custom more than anything. 

As he watched her retreating form, he willed away the cloud of foreboding that had formed at her abnormal warning. 

☽

“So, when you were twelve you got your head stuck in a bike rack and the fire department had to come cut you out? How do you even manage that?” Ten asked with a snicker, spreading his arms out as he balanced on the rail of the train tracks. They had detoured from their normal route, finding themselves walking along the tracks as they talked, Johnny walking between two sets of tracks, gravel crunching under his heavy boots as the other balanced beside him, sky cast grey above them. Johnny huffed, crossing his arms defensively.

“Listen, okay, I was twelve, it was a dare, I figured if I could get my head in I could get it out… not my best choice in retrospect, but you can’t blame me !”

“Oh, I can absolutely blame you, I’m keeping this one for future reference. Any more compromising stories I can hold over you, or do I gotta work for them?” He hopped down from the railing, falling into pace with the taller, legs having to work faster to keep up with his long strides. 

“Yeah, about that… If you’re comfortable, I was hoping you could tell me about you some?,” He laughed nervously, scratching at the back of his hand, “I mean, it’s not that big of a deal, if you don’t want to, you don’t have any sort of obligation to I’m just curi-” The smaller hushed him with a finger on his lips, stopping his nervous ramble in its tracks.

“Calm down, it’s fine,” he replied, corner of his mouth quirking up into a half smile, “I guess I never talk about myself because I’m really not that interesting of a person, but if you want to ask me some questions, be my guest.” 

“Uhh…” Johnny hadn’t planned this far, having figured it would be much harder to get the smaller male to divulge any facts about himself, “..family?” He asked, ever so eloquently. Ten quirked an eyebrow, causing heat to rise in Johnny’s cheeks out of embarrassment. 

“I guess I have a father and a younger sister, if that’s what you’re asking?” Johnny nodded, still too embarrassed to say anything. Ten hummed, reaching up to ruffle the taller man's hair, causing Johnny to bury his face in his hands. This really wasn’t fair.

“How about I just keep talking, and you cut in if you have a question,” Ten proposed, looking up at the other, soothing expression on his face “does that sound okay?” Johnny nodded, clearing his throat.

“Yeah, uh, that sounds good. Sorry for freaking out.” Ten laughed, light and hearty, stretching his arms out before tucking them behind his head. 

“Don’t worry about it. Hm, where should I start?” He paused for a moment, pondering, before continuing, nervous expression overtaking his face, “I-I’m Ten, I’m new he-”

“Oh shut up.” Johnny wailed, exasperated. Ten snickered.

“Sorry, sorry. My name is Ten, I have a father and a younger sister, I like art, dancing, and nature. My favorite food was meat stew, favorite book is probably twelfth night. I like cats. My strongest belief is that you should treat every moment as if it’s your last, live everything to its fullest extent because the world is cruel and unpredictable. I don’t really know what else to say, I’m really not that interesting…” he trailed off with a nervous laugh.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, I’m happy to learn whatever you can tell me about yourself,” Johnny reassured him, regaining his ability to speak properly, “You said you had a father and sister? Do they live here too? And… if it’s not too much to ask, what happened to your mother?” Ten seemed to freeze up for a moment at that, and Johnny had an apology prepared on the tip of his tongue, when the other began to speak.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. No, they don’t live here, they’ve moved to a different town. My mother died in a fire a long time back… honestly, it was so long ago that I barely even remember.” He seemed strangely unbothered at most, if not slightly put off.

“Oh, well, I’m sorry to hear that. It must’ve been hard growing up without her.”

“Yeah- uh, yeah…” Ten replied, obviously out of it. Johnny felt bad for bringing up the topic, and quickly attempted to change it.

“What do you do for a living? You must pay for all those grocery deliveries somehow, right?” He tried, gently knocking his shoulder against Tens, careful not to push him off of the railing. Ten snapped back to attention, smile flashing across his face.

“Oh, this and that. Mostly art. I have enough to get by, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?” He winked, taking exaggerated steps along the railing, shifting from side to side. A patch of sunlight sliced through the clouds, painting Ten in a halo of light, eyes shining honey amber. Johnny’s breath caught in his throat at the sight, mind betraying him with thoughts of how absolutely ethereal the other looked at the moment, seeming more like an angel fallen from heaven than something that belonged in this world. 

“Yeah… yeah, it is.” Johnny replied absentmindedly, voice dragging, enthralled with the boy beside him. Ten cocked his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Are you okay? You seem a little… spaced? Do you need to sit down? Water? I could get you some water.” He asked, obviously concerned. Johnny blinked, coming down from his reverie.

“No, no, I’m fine. Sorry, I spaced out.” Ten cracked a smile.

“It’s fine, as long as you’re okay.”

☽

“Hello, Johnny Seo speaking.” 

“Do you ever check caller I.D.? It’s just me, drop the formalities.” Jaehyun’s voice chided from the other end of the receiver. Johnny held his phone in between his ear and shoulder, freeing up his hands to pull a box of off brand cereal from the shelves of the deserted grocery store he was in. It was about eight o’clock, and the sun was just beginning to set in the summer sky, not that it was all that visible behind the heavy cover of the clouds. Johnny sighed, preparing himself to endure the others antics.

“Is, ‘Hello, your highness’ better?” He asked, eyes flitting between brands of microwave popcorn before selecting the least organic brand possible. 

“I prefer ‘your imperial overlord’, but I suppose that will do. How’s your word shit going?”

“Wordy. How’s your medical shit going?”

“Medically. Seriously though, how’s your day been man?”

“It’s been good. I finally got past that block I was having with the chapter, so I’m really happy about that. I spent most of the day with Ten, which was nice. What about you?” He reached up to adjust his phone, then grabbed a carton of chocolate ice cream, taking a moment to think before reaching back to grab another carton.

“Oh, classes mostly. I’m about to go to movie night at Tae and Yuta’s place, we’re gonna watch the sixth sense for the thousandth time. I don’t even think Yuta and I combined would be enough to resist his damned puppy eyes. You said you spent most of the day with ‘Ten’? Who’s that?” Johnny pulled his crumpled shopping list from his jacket pocket, glancing over it before heading to pick up some tortillas.

“He’s my friend, you know, the ‘axe murderer’, was it, from the forest. Also, Taeyongs eyes are his goddamn superpower and I don’t think anyone could resist them.” Jaehyun let out a breath.

“You’re still being careful, yes? At least till you’ve known him for more than a few weeks?” Jaehyun asked, cautious. Johnny rolled his eyes.

“Yes, mother, I’m being careful. Would it make you feel better if I put you on the phone with him?” He snatched a package of tortillas off of the shelf, tossing them into his basket, checking his list once more before heading towards the cash register.

“If he’s okay with it, that’d be nice. I’m sorry I’m being so anal about this, man, I just care about you a lot. What would I do without you to bother?” Johnny laughed, approaching the only open register.

“I’ll see what I can do. Hey, I gotta go. Love you Jae, talk to you later.”

“Love you too, talk to you later.” The call ended with a click, and Johnny reached up to grab his phone, placing it in the pocket of his black hoodie as he set his basket down. The cashier was a teenager with furious red hair, wearing a crop top under a long cardigan, which was probably the only time he had seen anyone in this town dressed as if they belonged in this decade. He began rapidly ringing up the objects from the basket as Johnny moved to pull his wallet from his back pocket. He seemed to stare at Johnny expectantly for a moment, before sighing and beginning to place the objects in plastic bags. As he rang up the next few objects, he began to speak.

“You know, you should really bring your own shopping bags. Plastic is awful for the environment.” Johnny raised an eyebrow, not expecting the sudden suggestion. 

“Uh, yeah, sorry, I’ll keep that in mind.” The red haired boy huffed, placing the last of the items in a bag.

“That’ll be 36.42, please. Who’s Ten?” Johnny blanched, hand freezing halfway to swipe his card at the unexpected question. This kid sure had a penchant for unprompted questions.

“Excuse me? No offense, but I really don’t see how that’s any of your business. I don’t even know you.” The teen puffed out his cheeks, crossing his arms.

“My name is Donghyuck. Now you know me, who is Ten. I know everyone here, I’ve never met a Ten. Or you, for that matter.” Johnny raised an eyebrow. The nerve of this kid- Donghyuck-, really.

“If you must know, Ten doesn’t come into town often. You wouldn’t see him here, he gets his groceries delivered. And I’m Johnny.” Donghyuck smiled, curiosity seemingly appeased. 

“I didn’t know any stores around here delivered, I should look into that. Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Johnny. I hope we can talk again, you seem cool. You’re not as stuffy as all the other adults here.” He wrinkled his nose at that thought, distaste for the so called stuffy adults in this town apparent. Johnny swiped his card, inputting his pin and scribbling a quick signature as he talked.

“Yeah, sure. See you around, kid. And hey, be careful who you talk to like that, wouldn’t want to offend the wrong person.” He picked up his groceries, waving a goodbye to the young cashier. He waved back, calling after Johnny.

“Don’t worry about me, Mr. Johnny, I know everyone around here! Have a good evening!” Johnny laughed, hearty and deep. 

“Have a good evening, Donghyuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!! i had tons of fun with donghyucks character, i hope you like how i wrote his character. until next week!! <3  
> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, sorry this update is a little late, i had finals this week so i havent had much time to write. i worked on it all day today though, and i had a lot of fun writing the characters here, so i hope you enjoy <33

"Okay but Sporty Spice was the best Spice Girl."

"Yuta, nobody car-"

"How dare you disrespect Scary Spice to my face like that."

Johnny sighed, exasperatedly burying his face in a pillow out of the view of his camera as Jaehyun pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d initiated a group skype call between Yuta, Taeyong, Jaehyun, and himself with the hopes of being able to catch up with the others as close to face to face as they were capable of what with the distance between them. However, due to the nature of his friends, the call had almost instantly devolved into petty argument. In hindsight, he really should have anticipated this. 

“Guys, can we please talk about something else.” Johnny pleaded, lifting his head from the pillow and propping it up lazily on his hand. He was lying on his bed in front of his computer, surrounded by plushies as his feet hung off the edge. Jaehyun nodded frantically in agreement

“What could be more important than Scary Spice?” Taeyong inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

“Sporty Spice.” Yuta grumbled under his breath, not quite low enough to escape Taeyongs radar. The latter furrowed his eyebrows, opening his mouth, fully prepared to ignite their petty argument once again. Johnny jumped in, preemptively cutting the argument short. 

“I dunno, how have you been? Update me, just because I moved doesn’t mean you can drop me.” 

“I mean, it kind of does.” Yuta teased with a snicker. Beside him, Taeyong scoffed, knocking his shoulder against the Japanese man’s. 

“I’ve been pretty good, thanks for asking,” Taeyong started, throwing a glare at Yuta before continuing, “I can’t wait for the school year to start, I’m so excited.” He beamed, eyes scrunching up. Yuta stared at him incredulously.

“You graduated last year, didn’t you? I didn’t know you were going back? Also, I’ve never seen someone so excited for school, you sick or something?” He pressed the back of his hand against Taeyongs forehead, the latter quickly swatting it away.

“I’m not sick, dumbass. And yes, I graduated last year. I’m going to be a kindergarten teachers assistant, don’t you remember anything I tell you?” He spat, clearly irked. Jaehyun sighed from the other camera as he took a long sip of jasmine tea, tired of his friends constant bickering. A moment passed, and if it was as if Johnny could physically see Jaehyun's eyes light up as the others continued bickering. That was never a good sign.

“Can we please talk about something different?” Jaehyun drawled, holding eye contact with Johnny, “Johnny’s boyfriend maybe?”

He was going to kill him.

Instantly, the others petty argument ceased. There was a moment of silence before he was bombarded, Jaehyun smiling deviously from the corner of his screen, very obviously trying hard not to laugh.

“Since when?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What’s his name?”

“Is he cute? No, fuck that, is he nice?”

“How’d you me-”

“He is not my boyfriend, Jung Jaehyun.” Johnny hissed, glaring harshly as the other lost control and began to laugh hysterically.

“Okay, but-,” a wheeze, “the fact that you knew who I was talking about speaks for itself.” He smirked proudly, most likely mentally stroking his ego. Taeyong and Yuta just looked lost. Taking pity on them, Johnny tried to explain.

“My friend Ten. Jaehyun’s convinced himself that Ten’s going to be the next Kun, which,” a pointed look directed at Jaehyun, “he’s not. I don’t even know where he got that idea.”

“What’s this ‘not boyfriend’ like?” Taeyong asked, eyes sparkling with mischief as he leaned against Yuta. 

“Ten’s… nice. He’s really passionate and good to talk to. Also, he makes fun of me less than some people do, so that’s a plus. He’s a good friend.”

“And he’s cute.” Jaehyun whispered conspiratorially, causing his other friends metaphorical ears to prick up. God save him.

“Oh? And would this information be from one Johnathan Seo?” Yuta inquired, quirking an eyebrow.

“My name isn’t even Johnathan. Also, since when is it bully Johnny day? I didn’t sign up for this.” He whined.

“It’s always bully Johnny day, Johnathan.”

☽

Johnny unplugged his phone from the USB charger in his car, stepping from the driver's seat and feeling the dead grass surrounding the church crunch under his boots, a feeling he was now quite used to. The air hung heavy around him as he texted Jaehyun, confirming that he was to ask Ten to speak with the former to quell his nerves. He began the trek to the bridge that had become their preferred meeting place, embracing the forest that surrounded him, willingly losing himself to the scent of rich, deep earth and archaic trees with thick, twisting roots that told stories decades older than Johnny himself. After some time, the familiar outlines of the bridge began creeping through the fog, even more familiar figure perched on the edge, legs swinging blithely. He called out to the figure, waving when he turned. A smile crept onto his face as he noticed Johnny, returning the wave with vigor. Johnny reached the bridge, leaning against the edge as Ten beckoned him to sit.

“Why hello there stranger, may I ask what you’re doing at my bridge on this fine day?” Ten teased, poking Johnny’s cheek with a small laugh, causing the taller to chuckle in response. 

“My deepest apologies sir, I did not realize this bridge was under your ownership.” Johnny replied, playing along. Ten scoffed, face contorting into an expression of disgust. Suddenly, he stood up, balancing on the railing of the bridge and raising his arms in an expression of grandeur.

“‘Sir’?? Excuse me, you shall refer to me as my lord or your highness only, as I am the king of this bridge. I shall tolerate no such disrespect.” Johnny panicked, suddenly serious, stretching out an arm for the other to grab onto should he need it.

“Ten, get down, that’s way too dangerous, you could fall,” Johnny urged, beckoning him to come down from where he was standing precariously, “Please, I don’t want you to get hurt.” Ten pouted, adorable as ever, and took his hand, hopping down from the railing. He leaned back against the railing and into Johnny’s side, crossing his arms as he looked up at the other. Johnny calmed, the smaller man's body heat grounding him with the reassurance that his friend was safely on the ground, and he let out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding. Suddenly, Johnny’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he was reminded of his promise to Jaehyun.

“Hey, um, Ten?” He started nervously, not quite sure why he was so anxious to ask something so simple of his friend, “Weird question, would you mind talking to a friend of mine? He’s been dying to talk to you, he told me he thinks you sound like a really cool person.” He was lying through his teeth, of course, but he wasn’t about to tell the other how his friend thought him to be some mass murderer.

“He thinks I sound like a cool person? Do you talk to your friends about me, Johnny Seo?” Ten asked, drawing an eyebrow up. Johnny froze at that, not quite sure how to respond.

“I- um, I- Well I-” He stuttered, wracking his mind for any response and coming up blank. Ten laughed, soft and airy, and patted him on the back.

“Sure, I’ll talk to this friend of yours. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine.” He smiled reassuringly, knowing just how to calm the other down as always. Johnny was convinced he was a psychic of some sort.

“Yeah, uh, lemme just-” Johnny started, reaching for his phone to call Jaehyun. After a quick text to make sure the other was unoccupied, he pressed the call button and held the phone to his ear, waiting for the call to go through as Ten looked up at him through his lashes expectantly. There was a click, and suddenly Johnny was bombarded with loud yelling. Jaehyun began to shush the others, noticing the call had gone through, and then there was only quiet chattering and Jaehyun's voice ringing through the receiver.

“Hi.”

“Why the hell are Yuta and Taeyong with you?” Johnny asked, instantly having been able to recognize the familiar voices causing the yells and chatter. Normally, he’d be delighted at the chance to talk to his closest friends, but in this case he really didn’t want to risk scaring Ten off. 

“We wanted to talk to your precious boy!” Yuta yelled, Johnny flinching at his friends volume. From his side, Ten quirked an eyebrow, mouthing ‘precious boy’ in an obvious question. Johnny just rolled his eyes, waving a hand in dismissal as he moved to cover his phone.

“Are you okay with them being there? It’s just two of my other friends, I didn’t know they would be on the call as well.” Johnny asked, prioritizing Ten’s comfort over the call, fully knowing his friends could be a lot.

“We can still hear you, asshole.” Yuta’s voice came through the speaker quietly, muted by Johnny’s hand. Ten snickered, smiling softly and nodding as he signalled to continue the call. Johnny uncovered the phone, bringing it back up to his ear.

“I’m gonna give the phone to him now, alright? Don’t do… what you normally do.” Ignoring the sounds of protest coming through the receiver, he moved to hand the phone to Ten, who was still wedged in between his side and the railing of the bridge. Ten took the phone, holding it up to his ear for a moment before furrowing his eyebrows and pulling it away to look at the black screen. Johnny took the phone from the others hand, pressing the home button to no avail.

“Huh, weird. Guess it must have died.” Johnny frowned. He’d even made sure to charge his phone on the ride there to ensure the call went smoothly. The charger must not have been plugged in all the way, he decided, slipping his phone back into his pocket. 

They eventually decided to walk their normal route, passing over the bridge and through the dim forest, past the collapsing wood of the church and the crumbling stone of the unloved graveyards. They walked, and they talked, chatting about everything and nothing. Johnny told Ten about his life back in Chicago, his friends and his parents, late night escapades to McDonalds where time seemed to stop, the time Jaehyun had been suspended for a month for setting up a waterslide in their high school hallway. 

He asked Ten questions, too. He learned about his childhood pets, escapades he’d had with his sister, how his father used to take him hunting in the spring.

“Are you religious?” He’d asked, eventually, gesturing towards the rosary that was ever present around the others neck, “You’re always wearing that, I just figured…” He trailed off expectantly, looking down at Ten. They’d stopped in a small pocket in the forest, Johnny leaning against a tree while Ten sat curled up on a log. Ten hummed.

“I’m not really sure, actually. The rosary was my mothers, you see, that’s really why I wear it. I suppose I am in the technical sense. I grew up Catholic, used to go to mass every Wednesday and Sunday. I’ve been baptised, possibly multiple times at that, though I really don’t think the second counted.” He stared for a moment, wringing his hands and blinking before he continued, “As for the state of my current beliefs… I’m not quite sure. I don’t worship a God anymore. I can’t worship a God that would stand by passively and watch the horrors of this world.” They were silent, then, forest seeming to go quiet with them. Ten looked down at his hands for a moment longer, before looking up at Johnny, beaming smile returning to his face.

“That’s not important, though, is it? Tell me more about your friends, they sound interesting. I’m quite sad I wasn’t able to talk to them earlier.” Johnny returned his smile, quickly launching into another story. 

☽

They talked for a few more hours, parting once the sun began to set as always. When Johnny returned to the car, he moved to plug in his phone, making sure it was plugged in securely this time. Instantly, it displayed the power on screen. Once it was fully powered on, Johnny unlocked his phone, pressing the most recent of many missed calls in his log to apologize to Jaehyun for the mishap during the call. Before he could start his apology, Jaehyun began.

“Hey man, what the actual fuck was that?” Jaehyun's voice was floating somewhere in between angry and panicked, and Johnny was confused.

“Jesus, chill man. My phone died during the call, calm down.” He tried, attempting to placate his friend. 

“No, I don’t mean the call ending, what the fuck was that?!” Jaehyun insisted, sounding slightly frantic. 

“Calm down. What do you mean ‘that’, I’m really not following.” He could hear Jaehyun taking slow, deep breaths before he continued.

“I don’t know what the fuck happened, but right after you stopped talking there was just this shrieking. I don’t know what it was, but the call went static and then there was just this fucking mechanical screaming Johnny, it was so awful, sounded like someone running a static TV over someone dragging a knife over porcelain.” He shuddered at the memory of the sound, voice shaking through the receiver.

“Fucking hell, Jae, calm down. We were in the middle of the forest, it was probably just bad signal or interference or something.” Johnny reasoned, not sure why his friend was so panicked over this. Jaehyun huffed.

“That was not interference. Trust me, it wasn’t interference. I don’t know what it was, but it was awful.”

“What else could it have been, Jae?” His friend paused, clearly unable to think of what could have caused such a sound.

“I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is finally starting to pick up some, i'm excited. i hope you enjoyed, see you next week <33 thank you for reading


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, sorry i'm late with this update! due to the new semester and my new classes, i no longer have enough time during the week to be able to update on fridays, so im gonna be updating on saturday instead. anyways, this chapters a little short but i had a lot of fun with it, enjoy!

“That’ll be $48.96, Mr. Johnny.” Donghyuck said, looking up at Johnny expectantly as he reached for his wallet, “How’s your friend doing? The one that you said ‘lives in the forest’.”

Johnny smiled as he swiped his card, remembering the latest encounter he’d had with the smaller man. The day before, they’d gone exploring around some of the abandoned settlements that the forest had reclaimed, Ten managing to flit around and light up the area as he always did. 

“He’s good. How’s school been? Staying out of trouble I hope?”

“Of course I am!” he started boldly, pausing for a moment to look down at his hands before looking back up at Johnny with narrowed eyes, “...somewhat. Anyways, have a good morning Mr. Johnny! Say hi to your friend to me!” Johnny chuckled at the boys antics, grabbing his groceries. 

“I’ll make sure to tell him hello for you. Have a good day yourself. And, at least try to stay out of too much trouble.” He finished with a wink, turning to leave the store as Donghyuck called out a “we’ll see!” after him.

Johnny wrapped his jacket more tightly around himself as he exited the store, clutching his bag of groceries to his chest as he hurried to his car. It was autumn now, muggy summer heat becoming chilling wind, trees painting themselves with warm red and orange hues. 

As he approached his car, he was greeted by an uproar of loud cawing. Surrounding his car was a murder of massive crows, six in total, beady eyes staring him down as he neared them. He grumbled, picking up a nearby stick and attempting to poke the offending birds off his car. After a few moments of stubborness from the birds, he managed to get in his car, setting the groceries down in the passenger seat with a huff as he started the car, heading home to make some preparations. 

☽

The bell attached to the door rang as he opened it, signaling his presence in the small diner, and he was immediately greeted by a familiar voice, calming presence immediately settling around him, combating the sharp glares of the other patrons. 

“If it isn’t my favorite author,” she started, old eyes twinkling with an unmistakable kindness, “right this way, sugar.” He trailed behind her as she lead him to his usual booth near the back of the diner, old plaque indicating the former smoking section of the restaurant, still firmly attached to the wood of the booth. “I’ll get your usual started, yes?” 

“Could I actually just get a coffee to-go? I would love to stay here and eat, but I’m actually having lunch with someone later.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, the person in question just didn’t exactly know about it yet. The waitress smiled crookedly, devious sparkle overtaking her eyes.

“One coffee to-go, coming right up. Lunch with a special someone? What’s her name, sweetheart?”

At that, Johnny blanched, taking a moment to process before starting to laugh nervously and wave his hands, “Oh, oh no it’s not like that, he’s just a friend of mine, it’s not like that.” He assured her quickly, nervously running a hand through his hair. 

“Well, okay then. Coffee, coming right up.” She threw him one last smile before turning away to get his coffee. 

He let out a breath, leaning back into the booth before mentally going back over his checklist for the day. He’d noticed Ten had seemed quite sickly lately, a bit thin. Looking back, he’d always seemed a bit that way, but he’d always gotten so caught up in their conversations that he’d never really noticed it. So, he’d planned to surprise the other with a picnic, preparing their lunches before he’d set off for the diner, both for his very necessary coffee and to stall for time as to not get there before Ten.

A few minutes passed before the waitress returned, coffee and receipt in hand. He paid quickly and thanked her, making sure to leave a generous tip before rushing out the door to get to his impromptu picnic. 

☽

“What’s all this?” Ten asked with a quirk of his eyebrow as Johnny approached him on the bridge, bag containing the food he’d prepared in hand.

“I made us lunch, I thought we could have a little picnic.” He received an apologetic smile in return, and Johnny immediately deflated. 

“Oh, Johnny, I’m so sorry… I ate before I came here, if I had known you were going to do this I would have held off on lunch, I’m sorry.” 

Johnny laughed nervously, “No, no it’s okay, I should’ve asked beforehand. Do you still wanna take it home for later?” Ten hummed in consideration, propping his face up on his hands where he was sitting on the bridge, cheeks squishing up adorably. 

“Sure. What is it?” 

“I made hamburgers, that good?” Ten winced, sucking in a breath.

“I’m really, really sorry, I would, but I’m vegetarian. You should still eat, though, don’t let me stop you." He gave a small, reassuring smile, patting the space behind him to urge Johnny to sit down. Instead, he leaned against the ledge, grabbing one of the burgers from the bag.

“Don’t worry about it. How have you been?” He took a large bite from his burger, nearly choking when Ten leaned against him from where he was seated. 

“I’ve been okay,” he hummed, close enough that Johnny could feel his cold breath on his neck, “haven’t changed much from when you asked yesterday.” he giggled, still right next to Johnny’s ear, and Johnny felt that he could’ve died happily right then and there.

“...right, sorry.”

Eventually, Johnny finished his burger and they began their routine stroll through the forest and surrounding areas. As they approached the graveyard further from the church, Johnny began to hear the telltale caws of the crows he’d encountered earlier that same day. He moved to pull Ten back towards the church, tugging at him from where their hands were linked, but Ten continued on the same path, turning slightly to give him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, they’re nice.” Johnny raised an eyebrow in question at the others statement, not exactly sure what the other meant. Ten rolled his eyes, pulling Johnny towards the crows with intent. “Come on, they don’t bite.”

“Ten, I’m not going towards the birds, what if they attack you, think of the diseases.” 

Ten huffed, “They don’t have diseases, and they won’t attack you. Come on, I’ll show you.” He slipped his hand from Johnny’s hold, skipping towards the birds, carefree yet driven as Johnny called a worried “TEN” after him. He was about to go after Ten when he witnessed what must have been the most peculiar thing he’d ever seen in his life.

Ten was sitting on a headstone, legs crossed, one arm outstretched with one of the birds perched upon it, his other hand motioning for Johnny to come over. He approached the other cautiously, birds eyeing him suspiciously, yet silently as he stood next to where the other was sitting, choosing not to sit out of respect. 

Ten moved his arm on which the bird rested towards him in a sort of offering, silent question hanging in the air. Slowly, carefully, Johnny outstretched his own arm, being sure to cover any bare skin with his jacket. He still thought this entire situation was absolutely mental, but he was so fascinated that he let it happen, crow seeming to eye him before hopping into place on the arm it’d been offered. Johnny watched in awe as the bird perched on his arm, raising a wing to scratch under it with a beak, and the only thought he could seem to muster was how the absolute hell had he found himself in this situation. 

☽

“How are the kids doing?”

“You make it sound like I’m their parent, not their teacher. They’re wonderful Johnny, they’re so cute and nice and the other day one of them brought me a cricket and told me I was their favorite teacher and god I love my job.”

Johnny chuckled, setting his glass of water down onto his bedside table. He’d been preparing to go to bed when Taeyong had called, always happy to talk to any of his closest friends. 

“How have you been, Johnny? Productive with your writing, I’m hoping?”

“Yeah, I’m getting pretty far into it, this place does wonders,” he took a moment to consider his next words, before deciding Taeyong was someone he could trust, “Hey, if I told you something, could you try and be serious about it?”

“Yeah, sure, what is it? Oh, wait is it about Ten? Did something happen? Oh, god, did he give you an STD or something? It’s okay, Johnny, you don’t have to be asha-”

“Tae.”

“Right, serious. Sorry. Please continue.”

Johnny sighed, pinching his temples. Maybe this had been a mistake. Well, too late now.

“Remember how Jaehyun called Ten my boyfriend and I said we were just friends?” He waited for Taeyong’s response, a small ‘mhm’, before continuing, “I think I might have a teensy tiny little crush on Ten. Maybe. Just a small one.”

“You want to give him your entire heart, don’t you.”

“So bad.”

They talked for a while more, Johnny confiding in Taeyong with the promise that he wouldn’t tell the demons they called their friends any of what he had said, and Taeyong regaling Johnny with stories of kindergarteners, both of the class he now taught and the aforementioned demons they called their friends. They hung up with the promise to keep in touch, and Johnny was finally set for bed, slipping under the covers, when he was startled by three loud knocks on his door.

“Ugh, what now.” He groaned to himself, slipping a hoodie over his t-shirt and sweatpant ensemble before sleepily making his way downstairs to address whoever was knocking on his door at this time of night.

He made it to the front door, unlocking the deadbolt and angrily pulling open the door, fully prepared to reprimand whoever had decided to bother him.

Instead, when he opened the door, he was greeted by silence and an empty porch. For a moment, he was confused, but that feeling was soon overtaken by a wave of annoyance rising up in him at whoever had decided to pull such a trivial prank at this time of night. He huffed, slamming the door and locking it before stomping his way back upstairs, making sure to turn the lights off as he went. 

Finally, he slipped into the comfort of his bed, surrounded by calming plushies and soft pillows. He was so exhausted, the day having held so much for him, so many surprises and occurrences.

In mere moments, he was deep asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ten: Č̤͖͉̗̥̲͓̽̍͘͝R̵̗̩̝͚̙ͬ̐ͩͬͭͨ̎ͣO̷͍͕̫̺͖͕̮͍̍̒̂̽̐́̅̚͝W̸͔̝ͨ͐̆͛̐S̙̯͂̎͛͌ͬ̍͠
> 
> johnny: im in LOVE
> 
> i hope you enjoyed, please feel free to come chat w me about any theories you have!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i'm a bit late with this, i've been working on this chapter a little all day and then i started seriously working on it at 10pm (its currently 3:47 am in my timezone ;^;  
> i really hope you like this chapter, this is where we finally get some serious development in parts of the story other than ten being Spooky  
> enjoy <33

“I think I have crushes on Tae and Yuta, what do I do.” Jaehyun whined, flopping down into his pillow and letting out a noise of agony. Sicheng, his roommate, appeared in the door worriedly, rolling his eyes at Jaehyun's unharmed state.

“Tell them, for a start? It’s Taeyong and Yuta, Jaehyun, they won’t judge you.” Jaehyun whined in response, lifting his head from the pillow with a disgruntled expression painted on his face, hair unruly. 

“What if it makes things awkward, though? They mean so much to me, Johnny, I don’t want that to happen with them.” 

“It won’t, Jae, trust me. If I confessed to you, would you treat me differently?”

“I mean, I would tease the hell out of you, but I wouldn’t treat you any differently.” Johnny raised an eyebrow expectantly, giving Jaehyun a moment to process before his own words dawned on him, scowling. 

“That’s not fair! You can’t use my own logic against me!” Johnny just raised his eyebrow further, Jaehyun groaning and rolling onto his side.

“I guess I could give it a try… If this goes bad, I’m blaming you, though,” he scowled, chewing on his lip. Johnny sighed, propping his head up between his hands and making eye contact with Jaehyun through the camera.

“Listen, Jae, do whatever you think is best, you know your feelings better than anyone else. Whatever ends up happening, I’m here supporting you and wishing you the best of luck, okay? That being said, Taeyong and Yuta are my friends too, you and I both know they wouldn’t resent you for having feelings.” He reasoned, pressing his face into a nearby Winnie the Pooh plushie. Jaehyun hummed, looking downwards with a small smile which made his dimples appear.

“Thank you so much, Johnny, you always know what to say, I really don’t know what I’d do without you. You know I’m always here for you too, right? I love you, man.” Johnny smiled softly against the stuffed animal, warm from the affection he was receiving from his friend.

“Love you too, Jae, you know I’m always here for you.”

☽

“Mr. Johnny! Over here!”

Johnny turned on his heel, eyes scanning the small boutique he was in for the familiar voice. They finally settled on two teenagers in the corner of the shop, familiar red haired boy waving to gain his attention as shorter, thinner boy stood behind him, scrolling on his phone absentmindedly.

“Hey Hyuck,” He ignored the feeling of the shopkeepers gaze burning into his back as he approached the boys, “what’s up?” The younger boy beamed at him, knocking his shoulder against his friend’s to grab his attention.

“Johnny, this is Renjun, Injun, this is Johnny. Meet!” Renjun glared at his friend, turning to Johnny and giving him a curt nod before returning to scrolling through his phone. Johnny waved awkwardly, not quite sure what to do in the situation. Donghyuck quickly fixed that, jumping into a story involving bees, a singular spoonful of peanut butter, and a ripped shirt, which explained why they were shopping for shirts.

“Why are you here today, Mr. Johnny?” Donghyuck asked, finally finished with his story. 

“Oh, nothing much, just checking out some of the stores here,” He answered. So far, he’d found a small ice-cream shop tucked into the corner of the street, some questionable taxidermy for an even more questionable price, and a shop that smelled far too strongly of incense for him to even consider entering, “How’s school going?”

Before Donghyuck could reply, Renjun tugged on his sleeve, pointing at something displayed on his phone, something bad judging by the way Donghyuck hissed.

“We gotta go, parents. See you around, Mr. Johnny!” His reply was rushed, swiftly leaving the little shop soon after. Johnny chuckled, waving after their retreating forms as he suddenly found himself alone in the little store, spare for the disgruntled cashier, who still seemed to be trying to burn a set of holes into his back. He got the message, exiting the store and making his way down the street with purpose.

Eventually, he came upon a little jewelry shop displaying gorgeous handmade necklaces and rings in the windows, shining despite the clouded sky. He stepped in, little bell attached to the door ringing cheerfully as he entered the shop. There was an elderly man sitting behind a well lit desk in the center of the shop, one eye comically enlarged by the magnifier extension he had clipped to his square frame glasses. Alerted by the sound of the bell, he looked up from the bracelet he was tinkering with, kind smile making its way onto his face.

“Welcome, young man! Is there anything you’re looking for today, or do you just want to look around some?” The elder asked, genuine kindness instantly making Johnny feel extremely at home in the little shop.

“Just looking around for today,” he replied, fidgeting with a little gem encrusted ring that’d been resting on a small table, “Do you make all of this yourself? They’re gorgeous.”

“Oh, yes I do, every last one. Thank you very much, young man. If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your name? I don’t recall having seen you around here.” Johnny returned his smile, gently setting the ring down before making his way to the next shelf.

“My name is Johnny. I’m actually from up North, you wouldn’t have seen me here before, I don’t think.” A spark of recognition flashed into the jewelers eyes, snapping his fingers with a small ‘aha’.

“I’ve heard about you, if I recall correctly. Annamae talks about a Johnny from up North quite a lot, are you an author by any chance?” Johnny blanked, not remembering having heard that name before.

“Yes, yes I am. Who’s Annamae?” The man chuckled, setting down the narrow tipped pliers he’d been working with.

“Annamae is my wife. She works as a waitress, apparently you’re quite the regular. You make her days at work, you know.” Johnny smiled brightly at that, extremely pleased to know he was making the waitress- Annamae’s- day’s just a little bit brighter.

“Oh, well, I’m glad to hear that. She’s really half the reason I go to that diner so much, she’s just so kind,” Johnny paused at a small bracelet, delicate silver accompanied by small bits of amethyst, mind immediately going to a small black haired boy, “How much is this?” He brought the bracelet to the desk gently, setting it down in front of the man.

“Normally, it’d be $30, but for you, $15. Consider it a thank you for giving my Annamae a reason to smile.” His eyes crinkled up kindly, so much like the ones he was used to encountering at the diner. They say if you’re with a person long enough, you begin to resemble them.

Johnny thanked the man, paying and leaving him a generous tip, leaving with the promise that the elder would say hello to the waitress for him. Checking his watch as he left, he began to make his way to his own little corner of heaven on Earth in the shape of little legs swinging jovially on the bridge, trinket bag in his hand.

☽

As he was walking down the path on his way to the bridge, he was struck by a realization. What if Ten was weirded out by the gift? Friends could give gifts to friends spontaneously, right? He didn’t want the other to suspect anything about the state of Johnny’s feelings for him. Before he could worry any more, he reached the bridge, familiar form sitting on the wall of the bridge, legs swinging as he smiled brightly and patted the spot next to him, dressed in the same clothes as always despite the dropping temperatures. Johnny assumed his usual position, leaning against the edge next to Ten as the other continued to swing his legs, head nodding from side to side to the tune of a silent song. 

“How’s your day been so far, Tennie?” Johnny had panicked, nickname slipping out in a moment in which his brain had decided to shut down. Ten quirked an eyebrow at the nickname, smirking mischievously.

“Tennie is doing just fine, thank you for asking. How’s your day been, Johnny boy.” Johnny chuckled nervously, fidgeting with the bracelet in his pocket.

“Pretty good, so far. I walked around downtown, found some pretty cute shops,” he took in a breath, mentally preparing himself for any repercussions that may come out of this, “I got you something, actually. Just a little present.” Ten pricked up at this, curiosity piqued. Johnny pulled the little lace bag containing the bracelet from the pocket of his coat, depositing it in Ten’s much smaller hands. He watched as the other gently pulled open the bag, mouth falling open slightly when he saw the bracelet within.

“Johnny, this is beautiful…” he said, pulling the bracelet from the bag and handing it to Johnny, “here, help me put it on.” He held out a wrist for Johnny as he fumbled with the small clasp, hands much too large to deal with things like this. Eventually, he got it, securing the bracelet around the other’s wrist snugly. Ten raised his hand, tilting his wrist back and forth to watch as the small gemstones glinted in the light.

“Thank you so much, I really can’t remember the last time someone gave me a gift, this is beautiful.” He stared at the bracelet in awe for another moment before he paused, taking a moment to think. Then, he took his hands up towards his neck, taking hold of his rosary gently before pulling it over his head. He motioned for Johnny to tilt his head down, staring expectantly.

“Ten, are you sure? Didn’t you say this was your mothers? I can’t take something like this from you.” Johnny argued. Ten rolled his eyes, motioning more insistently.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I won’t miss it.”

“Are you sure?” Johnny was skeptical. Ten laughed, light and airy.

“It’s fine, Johnny.”

Slowly, Johnny inclined his head, Ten reaching up to pull the blackened rosary over his head and settling it around his neck, hands brushing against Johnny’s neck as he went, causing him to shiver. When the rosary was securely around his neck, he straightened his neck, hand coming up to rest on it ever so gently. He was at a loss for words, not sure how to respond after having been given something of so much importance. Ten smiled, crooked and endearing, reaching up to tousle Johnny’s already messy hair.

“Calm down, love, it’s not that big of a deal.” Johnny’s heart gave a jolt at the sudden pet name, cheeks heating up. He still didn’t know how to respond, Ten apparently knowing exactly how to keep him in a never ending loop of speechlessness. Ten giggled, leaning into the other’s side. 

“Want me to talk for a while and you can cut in when you’re ready?” He offered, smiling when Johnny nodded quickly. He launched into a story from his childhood, having raised horses as a child, telling Johnny about a particularly tricky Mare named Victoria that he’d tamed, quickly having become the best of friends. Eventually, Johnny joined in with a story of how his parents had once sent him to horse camp as a child at his request, and how it’d quickly gone south from there, devolving into a mess of panicked staff and one loose horse. They went on like this for many hours, time passing in a flash, and before they knew it, night had snuck up on them, sun setting earlier than usual. They spoke for a bit longer before they decided to part ways, Johnny not being able to bear the chilly winds any longer.

As they said their goodbyes, Ten had placed his hands on Johnny’s chest, stretching up on his toes to press a small kiss to his cheek.

“Goodnight, Johnny.”

☽

The first thing he heard from the other line was sniffling.

“Jae? What’s wrong?” Johnny asked, pausing the television and settling back further into the corner of his couch, brows furrowing worriedly. 

“Yuta asked Taeyong out,” Jaehyun said, still sniffling softly, “I missed my chance, Johnny, I didn’t get to tell either of them.”

“Oh Jae…” Johnny cursed himself for not having the words that would make his friend happy, not knowing how to remedy his sadness.

“It’s okay. I should’ve seen this coming, really. They’ve been so close lately, I’ve just been so caught up in the both of them that I didn’t even notice,” Johnny hated hearing his friend like this, wishing again he had a magical cure for the pain the other was enduring, “I really don’t want to talk about it. Could you tell me about what’s been happening there? Please? I need a distraction.”

“Of course, Jae,” For some reason, he really didn’t think rambling about how Ten affected his heart was the best option at the moment. Instead, he told Jaehyun about the jeweler, about the vibrant gemstones intricately intertwined with lengths of gold and silver, the kindness in his smile and the deep love in his voice as he talked about his wife. He told Jaehyun about the waitress, about the unending goodness of her soul, the unwavering kindness in her eyes, the way she always seemed to know just what to say to set his day on the right track. He told him about Donghyuck, his fiery personality mixed with his undying curiosity, the hilariously blunt way in which he spoke, his somewhat cryptic friend Renjun. He talked until he heard the telltale sounds of snoring sounding through the speaker, pressing end call with a small smile. Soon after that, he made his way to his own room, falling asleep to thoughts of a thin, pallid wrist circled by silver and amethyst, and the feeling of gentle lips on his cheek.

☽

The next morning, he woke early, giving himself time for a particularly long shower and another two episodes of the show he was currently watching before it was time for him to head to the diner. He took his car, fidgeting with the rosary at stop lights, and reached the diner quickly, sliding into his normal booth in the corner of the room, cracked booths familiar and welcoming to him. He scrolled through his phone a bit as he waited for the waitress, coming across a few posts congratulating Taeyong and Yuta on their new relationship. 

Finally, he was approached by the waitress, greeting her with a cheery, “Good morning!” Instead of her usual cheery reply, all Johnny received in return was silence, her eyes locked onto the rosary.

She looks down at him, at the rosary fastened firmly around his neck. In her soft, molasses slow drawl laced with pity, she murmured,

“God can’t save you now, boy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did you like it? i hope you did, this was loads of fun to write  
> i might come add to the a/n tomorrow but im really very tired right now and probably wont be able to write a good one  
> i'll be adding playlists on both spotify and apple music on the main end note, but i'm doing them on my phone after i update on the computer so it might be a minute  
> thank you so much for reading <333


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally figured out i gotta copy my chap into rich text to keep the formatting!! this will be better  
> this entire chapter is basically me trying to write cute stuff but keep it Spooky  
> i would write a much longer note but its almost 5am and im sick  
> enjoy!! <33

After the waitresses foreboding words at the diner, she’d seemed much more distant from Johnny, kindness in her eyes dimming, leaving pity in its wake. His mood had been considerably dampened by the occurrence, making a mental note to ask Ten if he had any inkling of what she could possibly have meant. If it was connected to the rosary in some way, he may know.

 

That thought in mind, he made his way to the bridge, fidgeting with the rosary as the leaves covering his path rustled with his footsteps. As he pulled his hand away from the wood of the rosary, he noticed a thin layer of dark powder coating his fingers. Upon closer inspection, it was charcoal, the rosary being made of severely burnt wood rather than dark wood as he’d initially thought. His mind goes to the previous owner and he shivers, recalling the time Ten had told him his mother had died in a fire. He tries not to think about the implications as he continues on the ever familiar path, veering down the correct paths in the road without a second thought, so used to these excursions that he barely even had to pay any attention to where he was headed. Soon enough, he found himself faced with the familiar sight of a stone bridge and a blinding smile which never failed to warm his heart.

 

“Hey, Ten.” He greeted as he approached the other, leaning against the railing where the other beckoned him to sit as always. The other faced him fully, head tilted slightly and eyes scrunched with the force of his smile, warm feeling bubbling up in Johnny’s chest.

 

“Hi, Johnny!” Ten replied cheerily, knocking his shoulder against Johnny’s own. He seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood that day, and Johnny decided he could ask him about the rosary some other day, not wanting to risk ruining the smaller mans day. He’d willingly subject himself to a weeklong marathon of the twilight movies before he’d even think about doing anything to wipe the lovely smile off the others face, and that comes with the consideration that he’d be so brain-dead that the thought wouldn’t even fully process.

 

“Someone’s in a good mood,” He started, observing the way Ten’s eyes sparkled in the rare sunlight, “anything in particular happen, or are you just happy?” Ten giggled softly, swaying from side to side as he kicked his feet.

 

“Just in a good mood! It’s sunny out, I have plans for today, you’re here. What reason could I have _not_ to be happy?” Johnny was certain Ten had to have him under some sort of spell, not willing to believe any living human could be as enchanting and wonderful as Ten. He had to be some sort of fairy, a forest nymph perhaps.

 

“Plans for today?” Johnny asked, wondering what the other could have planned considering his seemingly constant presence at the river and his cabin. Ten nodded happily, head bobbing with closed eyes.

 

“We’re going on an adventure!” He stated excitedly, Johnny happily surprised that Ten considered a slight variation in their daily meetings ‘plans’. Johnny laughed, reaching up to ruffle the other’s hair.

 

“Yeah? And where would this adventure be?” He teased, hand coming to rest against the others neck firmly. Ten’s hand darted up to pull Johnny’s hand from his neck, and Johnny tensed, worried he’d crossed some sort of unspoken boundary. His fears were extinguished, however, when Ten simply swung his legs over the ledge and hopped onto the bridge, intertwining their fingers as he went.

 

“C’mon, I’ll show you,” he urged, smaller hand tugging on Johnny’s as he attempted to head off the bridge, “we can talk as we go, I promise you’ll love it!”

 

Johnny sighed out a laugh, resigning himself to his fate as he let himself be dragged to god knows where.

 

☽

 

As Ten led Johnny deeper into the forest they began to chat, rambling back and forth about trivial things, never failing to find a topic to talk about when necessary. Eventually, though, they slipped into a comfortable silence, surrounded by the sounds of the wind dancing with the tree and two sets of footsteps traveling across the forest floor, traveling along an unmarked path that Ten seemed to know well, stepping over roots and plants easily. An owl screeched above them. Johnny ran his thumb against the back of Tens hand habitually, the others hand small yet strong gripping his own.

 

They continued, beginning to reach into the decaying ruins of what Johnny assumed must have been an old settlement, perhaps the areas from which the town of blackwell began, buildings well reclaimed by the forest. As they continued walking, Johnny began to notice something strange near the base of Ten’s pointer finger. Originally, he’d written it off as the area between his knuckles or just rough skin, but as it became more obvious as he continued his movements. He pulled Tens hand up to his face to inspect it, the latter shooting him a questioning look as he gasped.

 

“Jesus Christ, Ten, how’d this even happen?” Johnny asked, worried that he’d been hurting the other the entire time. Around the base of his finger was what seemed to be a wound of some sort wrapping its way around his finger. Ten hummed, intertwining their fingers once more without a second glance, continuing to lead Johnny to an unknown destination.

 

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Ten said, flippantly, “just little scar, it doesn’t hurt. Really severe rope burn from a while ago, really left a mark. It’s healed now, though. Come on, it’s right over there.” Johnny hummed, concern satisfied with the knowledge that he wasn’t causing his Ten any harm. He paused his train of thought at that, alarmed. When had Ten become ‘his’ Ten?

 

Before he could question himself any longer, he was stopped by his chest bumping into Ten’s back. He’d stopped them in front of an oak tree, twisting branches reaching high past the scope of Johnny’s vision. Ten looked up at him expectantly, gleeful twinkle in his eyes.

 

“Well?” He asked, elbowing Johnny slightly, “What do you think?” Johnny wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.

 

“It’s… a tree?” He responded, not quite sure why they’d spent the better part of an hour trekking to a _tree_ of all things. Ten laughed heartily, gripping his stomach, leaning slightly into Johnny’s side with the force of it. Johnny was puzzled, really not sure what his reaction was _supposed_ to be.

 

“Excellent observation, Johnathan,” Ten quipped, Johnny groaning internally at the incorrect use of his name. He could never win. “This is a tree me and my sister used to come to, we’d play here a lot as kids.” He had this faraway look in his eyes, as if he wasn’t fully there. “I haven’t been in ages, figured it’d be nice to come back to a special place with a special person.” Johnny’s heart soared, unable to keep a pout off his face at the others words.

 

“I’m a special person to you?” He asked, looking down at the other. Ten squeezed his hand, leading him to the base of the tree.

 

“The most special.”

 

He climbed up onto the nearly flat platform that was the base of the trunk from which the rest of the branches formed a sort of cradle, settling against the edge of a branch and gesturing to Johnny to join him. The latter grabbed another branch splitting off from the trunk, pulling himself into the cradle and settling himself next to the other, arm resting around the smallest shoulders.

 

They sat there, Ten telling stories of his childhood with his sister and pointing towards a faint ‘C & T’ carved into the wood. This went on for a while, Ten curled into Johnny’s side, telling stories of his childhood, like how once he and his sister had challenged each other to see which of them could climb higher into the tree, resulting in a lot of scolding and a broken leg on Ten’s part, or how they’d play pretend as a myriad of mythical creatures.

 

At one point, Johnny slid his hand down Ten’s arm in an attempt to get some blood flow back into his own, and was struck by a jolt of cold.

 

“Holy shit, you’re cold. Are you okay?” Johnny asked, already slipping off his hoodie. Ten whined, protesting.

 

“No, no, I’m fine, really, I don’t need th-” The rest of his sentence was muffled by Johnny pulling his hoodie over Ten's head, pulling him in between his legs so he could wrap his arms around him properly, resting his head on top of Ten’s.

 

“You good now?”

 

“Yeah. I was fine, though.” He sounded flustered, if not slightly annoyed, leaning into Johnny’s hold nonetheless. They stayed like that for a long while, Ten eventually starting to tell his stories again, regaling Johnny with more stories of his childhood. Slowly but surely, he found himself drifting to sleep to the sound of Ten’s voice.

 

☽

 

Eventually, Johnny awoke to the sun setting, shivering with a very asleep Ten in his arms. He’d quickly woken the other, heading back on the path they’d came, parting ways with a peck on the cheek once again, sun having set long past when they’d arrived back at the church where Johnny had parked his car.

 

Soon after, he’d found himself back at home, down one hoodie. He took a shower to warm himself from the autumn cold, ate dinner (kraft mac-and-cheese, a meal fit for kings), and plopped himself on his bed, fully prepared to sleep. Before he could slip back into the sweet arms of sleep, however, his phone vibrated obnoxiously from his nightstand. He sighed, rolling over to grab his phone and settling himself against a winnie-the-pooh plushie, answering the call fully prepared to have a calm conversation with his friend.

 

He was bombarded by a mess of excited screeches from the other end of the line.

 

“Jesus _Christ_ , Jae, calm down, what is it?”

 

“I- Tae- Yuta- They- I’m-”

 

“ _Deep breaths, Jaehyun_.”

 

A deep inhale.

 

“ _Taeyong and Yuta asked me to be their boyfriend_.”

 

Johnny gasped, immediately awake, invested in his friends story.

 

“What happened?” He asked, curiosity overtaking him. Jaehyun laughed, light and strong. Happy.

 

“They asked me out to lunch, and I got really sad because I knew I’d missed my chance with them but agreed anyways and _god_ , it was amazing, John. I thought I was just there to third wheel and they asked me if I knew what polyamory was and IsaidyesandtheyaskedifI-”

 

“ _Calm down Jae._ ”

 

Another deep breath.

 

“Right, sorry. I said yes, I knew what polyamory was, and they asked me if I’d be comfortable considering maybe dating them and it was _so_ cute, Johnny, you should’ve seen it, they both looked so hopeful and- sorry, to the point. They asked me if I’d consider dating them and I said yes and it went from there and now I’m with both of them and I’m so happy, Johnny, I’m so happy.” He sounded a bit breathless, ecstatic from the other end of the call. Johnny smiled, always happy to hear his friends happy.

 

“Oh, Jaehyun, that’s so nice to hear. I’m so happy for you.” Johnny responded, rolling onto his stomach.

 

“Thanks, man. Sorry about that, I just really needed to get that out,” He laughed, still obviously elated, “How’d your day go?” Johnny smiled, recalling the day he’d had with Ten. He told Jaehyun all about it, confessing how he’d been feeling about the other lately, telling him about how Ten had looked dotted with sunlight, how he’d surprised him with their little adventure, how cute he’d looked practically swimming in Johnny’s hoodie. He’d expected a range of responses, but what he hadn’t anticipated was the reproachful tone of Jaehyun’s voice.

 

“Johnny, that’s cute and all, but… you just let this dude lead you into the forest? For almost an hour? With no idea where you were going?” He was wary, but firm in his words, reason strong in the sentence.

 

“I definitely see where you’re coming from, but it’s Ten. I really don’t know how to explain it, but I’m safe with him.” He replied reassuringly, not wanting his friend to worry.

 

“If you say so…” Jaehyun was still clearly distrustful of Ten, but trusted Johnny enough to make the best decisions for himself, “you’re still being careful?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Okay, then.”

 

They went from there, conversing for a little over an hour in total, hanging up with the promise to talk again soon. Johnny slipped under the covers and into a deep sleep, met once again in his dreams with the recurring appearance of slanted twinkling eyes, and a small form fitted against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jaeyutae!! some johnten!! were getting there uwuwu


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapters so late! i hadnt planned for this chapter but i needed it for development so the later chapters would make more sense blah blah blah im really tired and its a school night, i hope you enjoy! its a bit short but we get some actual johnten, plus its one of the, if not the, last chapters before shit starts to really hit the fan. also, i finally figured out how to properly format this!!!  
> enjoy! <33

The stares that had followed him since the day he’d appeared in the town only seemed to intensify in the weeks after the occurrence at the little diner, no matter how hard he’d tried to ignore them. He couldn’t understand why one little rosary could cause such a reaction from the residents of the town. Donghyuk's mother had discovered their friendship of sorts and had begun to go to great lengths to keep Johnny away from her son. The only gaze he knew that hadn’t seemed to turn cold on him was Tens. Even the waitress seemed more reserved than before, tense, as if she was anticipating something, though she continued to extend her kindness to him to some extent.

 

“One regular, coming right up.” She said with a sad smile, not bothering to write the order down as she walked away. The cooks knew him well enough. Johnny sighed, turning his head down to check his phone, smiling as he read over some of the messages Jaehyun had been sending him. He’d gone on a vacation with Taeyong and Yuta over thanksgiving break and had been periodically sending Johnny updates of their escapades.

 

Soon enough, Johnny’s meal arrived at the table, and he dug in, intent on finishing quickly to visit Ten. They’d only grown closer as the weeks had passed, furthering their relationship and learning more and more about each other. It had become easier for Johnny to understand Ten, and Ten seemed to effortlessly be able to read Johnny. In turn, Johnny had only become progressively more enamoured with the smaller man, crush having morphed into real feelings. He’d been captivated by the other since the moment they’d met, but those feelings paled in comparison to what he now felt for the boy. It hadn’t been a sudden feeling, more like a slow, deep burn that had started deep in his chest and spread each time he saw the other boy, slowly but surely engulfing him.

 

Soon, he completed his meal, quickly making his way to his car, curling his arms into his chest tightly and clutching his sleeves in an attempt to fight the bitter cold. The sky was a deep grey, rolling and barren, seeming to leech the life from the already bleak town. He made it to the car, quickly hopping inside and cranking the heater to high as soon as the engine was running, regret setting in instantly as the vents blasted cold air. Once the engine and, subsequently, the heater, warmed up, he pulled out of the parking lot, and headed for the church.

 

☽

 

About a mile from the church, Johnny’s car ran out of gas. He’d been too caught up in thoughts of Ten, Jaehyuns vacation, and the most recent chapter of his book to notice the indicator on his gas meter nearing empty. Thankfully, the church wasn’t that far outside of town, having been close enough for him to walk the distance during warmer weather. He decided to just walk the rest of the way to the church, leaving his car off the edge of the road and fastening the buttons of his coat tight as he began the trek to the church. Ten had said that he lived in the forest near the river, he’d probably be able to spare Johnny some gas or, at the least, drive him down to the nearest shell to fill up an empty fuel tank.

 

Twenty minutes later, he found himself at the head of the trail leading to the bridge, shivering slightly as the cold wormed its way into his jacket. They really needed to find a better meeting place that involved a lot less outdoors and a lot more hot chocolate. As he approached the bridge, he thought about Ten, about the developments in their relationship over the past few months. He’d been considering officially asking the other out, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk what seemed to be the only non-hostile relationship he had left in this town. Ten had been reciprocating all of his advances, but he was still insecure, unsure of whether or not Ten had an unspoken line that was not to be crossed.

 

Before he could sink further into his spiral of thoughts, he found himself at the bridge, Ten perched on the edge as always, legs swinging freely. He was wearing the hoodie Johnny had lent him nearly two months ago, absolutely swimming in it. Johnny had never asked for it back, and Ten had never offered to return it, unspoken deal clear between the two of them.

 

“Hey, Ten.” Johnny called, forcing one of his hands out of his pocket to wave at the other, smiling when the other turned to him, beaming.

 

“Hi, Johnny!” Ten returned, swiveling around to face Johnny and patting the space next to him as per usual. Johnny hopped up on the wall, placing a hand down to steady himself as he wrapped the other around the smallest waist, smiling when he leaned into his side with a sigh.

 

“How are you today, Tennie?” he asked, leaning his head down onto the others, trying to steal any sort of warmth from him. It was futile considering how truly awful the other man's circulation was, his constant state of cold, but he may as well try while they were there. Ten hummed, intertwining his fingers with those of the larger hand wrapped around his waist.

 

“I’m good. The weather is really nice today, I love the cold. What about you?”

 

“Pretty good,” he replied absentmindedly, before suddenly remembering his predicament, “Actually, could you help me out?” Ten looked up at him curiously, fixing the hood of Johnny’s hoodie with a pout as it fell down over his eyes. Johnny resisted the urge to coo. He really was adorable.

 

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” He asked, fidgeting with Johnny’s thumb as he spoke. Johnny reached up with his free hand to run his hand through his hair nervously.

 

“My car actually ran out of gas about a mile down the road,” he explained, setting his hand back down firmly onto the stone of the wall after he swayed a bit too much for his liking, “I was wondering if you had any gas? Or if you could possibly drive me down to the gas station?”

 

Ten bit his lip, looking up at him apologetically, “I’m _really_ sorry, Johnny,” he started, Johnny already knowing where this was going, “I wish I could help, but I don’t have a car. Don’t really have many places I need to drive.” Johnny sighed, squeezing the others hand and giving him a reassuring look.

 

“It’s fine, it isn’t that far of a walk.” He reasoned, trying his best to make sure the other didn’t feel any level of guilt. Ten smiled back, twinkle in his eyes, and Johnny could almost physically feel the breath being knocked out of him. God, he was beautiful.

 

They remained there for a while longer, chatting and enjoying each others company before eventually leaving to wander near the train tracks. They talked as they walked along the tracks, Ten balancing on the railing once again, hand in hand with Johnny walking alongside him. Eventually, the pair slipped into a comfortable silence, surrounded by the sounds of Tens bare feet on the railing and Johnny’s boots on the gravel. Johnny had become so used to the other walking around barefoot that he hadn’t even noticed how peculiar it was in such weather. Before he could ask Ten if he was okay or if his feet were freezing on the cold metal, Ten gasped and turned his face up to the sky.

 

“Johnny look! It’s snowing!” Tens eyes lit up at the appearance of snow, raising his arms out and taking Johnny’s with it. After a moment, he dropped Johnny's arm and hopped down from the railing, spinning around in the snow with a giggle as flecks of white continued to make their home in his hair. Johnny smiled, pulling out his phone to snap a few pictures of the other before returning it to his pocket, just in time to have his hand grabbed once more before being pulled past the tracks.

 

“Dance with me!” Ten demanded, smiling radiantly as he attempted to drag Johnny to a flat patch of gravel, small form stronger than it looked.

 

“I dunno, Ten, I’m really not that much of a dancer.” Johnny countered, pulling away slightly from the others grasp. Ten sniffed indignantly.

 

“Oh come _on_ , Johnny, there’s nobody here to judge you!” He argued, tugging a bit more insistently, “Have a little fun! I promise you’ll enjoy yourself!” Johnny rolled his eyes with a huff, allowing himself to be pulled along by the smaller.

 

“ _Fine._ Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.”

 

☽

 

They’d spent an hour or two like that, Johnny awkwardly swaying and letting himself be lead into some sort of half-dance by Ten, happily laughing the time away despite Johnny’s two left feet. The sun began to set, and they started to make their way back near the church, hand in hand, happy despite the cold temperatures. Normally, they’d wait a bit longer before parting ways, but Johnny _really_ didn’t want to be stuck in the pitch dark walking to the gas station in the cold.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Johnny asked as they reached the clearing that surrounded the church, hand still wrapped around Tens.

 

“Of course.” The response came easily, no actual affirmation needed between the two that they were to meet again the next day. It’d been their routine for months, and they had no reason to break it now.

 

“Goodnight, Ten.” Johnny said softly. Ten smiled warmly, heat in Johnnys chest spreading almost enough to combat the cold.

 

“Goodnight, Johnny.”

 

He feels a hand on his chest, preparing himself for Ten’s little cheek kisses that had become their customary goodbye. Instead, his only warning comes in the form of warm breath on his lips before Tens mouth is pressed against his softly. By the time Johnny registers what's happening, Ten pulls away, moving to turn back towards the forest. Johnny blinks, reaching out to grab Tens arm gently before he can walk away, leaning down to connect their lips once more. They pull away, foreheads pressed together, still close enough to share their breath, and Ten smiles, wide and radiant, tongue poking from between his teeth. He leans in once more and pecks Johnny on the lips fleetingly, before turning and walking towards the forest. Johnny brings a hand up to his lips, laughter bubbling up in his throat as he turns and begins the walk to town.

 

☽

 

After about two and a half hours of walking, refilling, and driving, Johnny makes it back to the safety of his home. He immediately jumps into the shower, not willing to wait till morning to wash the sweat and grime off him from the unexpected trek, and comes out twenty minutes later wrapped in a towel, smelling significantly better than when he had entered. He pulls on a pair of boxers and flops bonelessly into bed, curling up around a bulbasaur plushie as he remembers the events of the day, giddy. He recalls the pictures he took of Ten in the snow and grabs his phone from the pocket of his discarded jeans, opening the group chat in which Jaehyun had been sharing their adventures on vacation to finally show them what their ‘backwoods murderer’ looked like. Instead, when he opens his camera roll, he finds the files to be corrupted, Tens form indistinguishable from the mess of lines across the picture. Johnny tosses his phone onto his bedside table, deciding he’s much too tired to deal with the mess that is the pictures, and that they are a problem for future Johnny. For the umpteenth time, he falls asleep to the thought of a boy with honey sweet lips and snow dotted hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what'd you think? i really hope you liked it, i'm really excited for the next few chapters. thank you for reading!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy this cute little chapter! we're nearing the end of the story, im both extremely excited and super sad that it's ending, I really hope that you guys enjoy this chapter as much as i enjoyed writing it  
> sorry this is so late, by the way, i left my computer at a friends house last week and by the time i got it back i was swamped with schoolwork  
> enjoy <33

 

Time moved slowly yet all at once for the next month, as it seemed to Johnny. The day after the initial kiss with Ten, they’d discussed their relationship, deciding to go slow and see where time took them. Falling into their relationship felt natural, comfortable, like slipping under a warm blanket next to a fireplace on a cold winter's day. They continued their little walks through the forest, by the church and the graveyard, the other little graveyard a little further out, Ten occasionally taking them on little field trips to isolated corners of the forest, each with their own story. 

 

They walked themselves through the end of autumn and into a cold, bitter winter, temperatures reaching record lows for the area. Blackwell river formed a jagged sheet of ice round the edges, despite the rushing water, torrents jumping around and curling under shards of ice. The trees shed their leaves, ground forming a seemingly permanent layer of frost, and the entirety of the area surrounding the little church seemed to dim, graveyard near it becoming drab, the other sinking further into its solemn solitude, forest seeming to lose all vestiges of life. 

 

Still, Johnny managed to find life in Ten, warmth filling up his chest and bursting out, bringing life to the areas that would otherwise remain desolate and cold. He’d become the only person in the little town Johnny could look to for any sort of companionship, rest of the town having shut him off, even Donghyuck and the waitress going so far as to address him as sir and only speak to him in the manner one would treat a business transaction, rather than as an friend or even an welcome customer.  Johnny now required many layers to continue their visits, layers that Ten seemed not to need, and they went along with their routine, laughing and loving through the unforgiving cold of the winter days. 

 

Currently, they were walking by the river, downstream from where their bridge stood, hands swinging in between them, fingers intertwined. Johnny was chattering excitedly about his novel, which was almost ready to go to an editor spare for a few small details, Ten looking up at him as if he’d put the stars in the sky, occasionally asking questions to prompt Johnny to continue talking. 

 

“... so he gets sent back to the sixteen hundreds, colonial America, right? And he has to struggle internally with what he did to Lydia while also having to deal with the repercussions of the time jump and adjusting to blending in while still trying to figure out how to getbackand-”

 

“Breathe, love.” Ten interjects, laughing airily and squeezing Johnny’s hand when he smiles guiltily. 

 

“Sorry.”

 

“You did nothing wrong, no need to apologize. You were telling me about the time jump?” He prompted, not missing the way Johnny’s eyes lit up.

 

“Right, so he’s dealing with trying to blend in while trying to figure out how to get back home and I wanna add a bunch of little details about the time to really make it immersive, you know? I think I’m gonna go down to the library later and see if they have any records of Blackwell from around then.” At that, Ten seemed to unfocus a bit, eyes going distant as he slowed down ever so slightly, speeding  back up to pace once Johnny’s gloved hand tugged lightly at his. 

 

“You good?” Johnny asked, concerned with Ten’s sudden lapse in attention. The latter nodded, smiling up at Johnny softly.

 

“Yeah. I was thinking, I know a lot about that time period, maybe I could help you so you wouldn’t have to go to the library?” He offered, eyes hopeful.

 

“That’d be great! Maybe you could tell me stuff and then I could go get more in depth details at the library?” Tens eyes widened momentarily, expression swiftly being masked by a calm facade.

 

“Oh, you don’t need to go to the library. I majored in American history, I can tell you anything you need to know.”

 

“Oh, that’d be nice!” Johnny replied enthusiastically, bringing their cold hands up together to brush a stray hair out of Tens eye, “Where’d you go to college?”

 

“Southern University. You?” 

 

“University of Illinois at Chicago! Could you tell me about general colonial society? Preferably around the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?”

 

Ten nodded, smiling, and began to ramble about the time period as they made their way back towards the church, hand in hand, bare feet padding along the frozen forest floor, leaving small footprints alongside those of heavy boots. He managed to get through his explanations of some of the more common jobs in the colonies, along with how the schoolhouses worked and the grocery stores, before they reached their destination, sunset lighting the sky ablaze. Johnny was sad that their time together had been cut short recently, temperatures not allowing them to be together long after dark as they once could, but he was grateful for every second he got with Ten, blessed to be given the chance to fall in love with such a lovely person. Ten walks him all the way to his car, standing beside it as they savor their last moments of the day together. 

 

“Thank you for today,” Ten starts, grabbing Johnny's other hand and maneuvering them so that they’re face to face, both hands clasped with the others, “spending time with you really means so much to me.” 

 

“As time with you means to me, my love.” Johnny returns, inclining his head as Ten stretches up to press a chaste kiss to his lips, before placing another kiss to the tip of his nose and wrapping his arms tightly around his midsection. Johnny winds his arms around the other, pressing a kiss to the top of his head before burying his face in Tens hair, shutting his eyes and savoring the moment as they sway slightly. Eventually, the moment has to end, Ten squeezing around Johnny's midsection once more before pulling away, pressing a quick peck to the back of his hand, before walking away, fading into the forest.

 

Johnny watches him go until he’s completely out of sight, slipping into his car and waiting for the engine to heat, checking his phone for any messages. He’d made a habit of leaving his phone in the car during his visits to Ten, signal obviously too bad to make any real calls. Finally, the engine is warm, and he blasts the heat, taking a moment to warm his hands before heading home, already looking forwards to his next day with Ten.

 

☽

 

“Oh, Johnny, you should’ve seen his  _ face _ when we all started singing, I think I could see the moment his soul left his body,” Jaehyun chattered excitedly from the other line, telling Johnny about an occurrence from a recent party he’d attended at which they’d surprised Yuta with a song. Johnny nodded, shoving a stack of chips into his mouth after encouraging his friend to continue speaking, narrowly avoiding choking on a small shard of chip. He’d called soon after Johnny had eaten dinner, and Johnny had replied almost immediately, always prepared to speak to his best friend. Jaehyun had been updating him about life back in the city for almost twenty minutes, mixing hilarious stories of his antics with their friends and wholesome experiences with his family and his partners.

 

“Hey, how’s it going down there? Are you almost done with your book thing? How’s Ren?” Jaehyun asked curiously.

 

“Oh, it’s good. Yeah, I’m pretty far into the book, I just gotta get a few details hammered out before I send the first draft to the editor. And  _ Ten _ is doing great, thanks for asking,” Jaehyun quietly sucked in a breath at that, Johnny snickering at his friends reaction, “we haven’t been able to see each other as much recently, but the time I do have with him is so good, Jae. I’ve never been happier.” He’s got a dumb smile on his face, leaning back on his couch, avoiding the hard spring he’d gotten around to fixing. He should fix that soon.

 

“Oh, that’s nice. You guys sound close, I’m glad you have such a close friend there.”

 

Johnny scratched his head, thinking about his next words, “Actually, uh, Ten and I have been… dating recently?” The sentence was posed as more of a question than a statement, but his message went across loud and clear.

 

“You’re dating him? I’m happy for you man, I really am,” he pauses, as if he’s unsure whether to finish his sentence or leave it where it stands, “Listen, Johnny, I hate to be that person, but are you really sure you know him well enough?” Johnny blanches, and Jaehyun takes his silence as an invitation to continue, “You’re an adult, and you can make your own decisions, but how well do you really know him? Do you even know how old he is? His favorite color? Fucks sake, do you even know his last na-”

 

“Jaehyun, shut up.”

 

Jaehyun stops, pausing for a moment, before starting up again, sharp edge to his words, “Listen dude, I’m just looking out for you, you can’t blame me for being a little worried that my best friend spends all his days out in the woods with some random ass guy who never seems to leave.”

 

“Is it really that hard for you to believe somebody could love me?” Johnny starts, raising his voice, “Oh, Johnny’s in a relationship, there’s no way  _ that _ could happen, his partner must be a psychopath!” 

 

“Johnny, you’re putting words in my mouth, I just want you to make sure you can really trust him.” Jaehyun says, anger creeping into his voice despite his best efforts.

 

“I  _ love  _ him, Jae, of course I can trust him. You, on the other hand, I’m not so sure about anymore.”

 

“Oh, come  _ on _ , Johnny, are you kidding me right now? You know what, call me when you’re ready to talk to me like an adult. Take care of yourself.” 

 

The call ends, and Johnny tosses his phone down with a huff, flopping over onto the couch and flipping through the channels with a scowl. How could Jaehyun still not trust Ten, even after everything Johnny had told him of the other? Was he really so sure that Johnny didn’t deserve love that he’d go as far as demonizing Johnny’s relationship in hopes of tricking Johnny into ending things with Ten? As these thoughts swam through his head, he slowly sank into the couch, television on some infomercial about some blender providing white noise, guiding him into a restless slumber.

 

☽

 

The next morning, Johnny awoke on the ground, having fallen off the couch at some point during the night, spine stiff and leg cramping. He stretches up slowly, hissing when a roll of his neck elicits a chain of harsh pops, and grabs onto the couch to pull himself up, heading to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He decides against a visit to the diner, still too angry from the night before to deal with the absence of a warm smile, and instead decides to throw himself into his work, heading to the library to get some details he’d missed from Ten.

 

Three cups of coffee later, he finds himself driving to the library, not willing to walk today even though it’s a mere seven blocks away. Soon, he finds himself in front of a deteriorating brick building, not exactly an unusual sight in the town of Blackwell, and he makes his way up the steps, grabbing onto the curve of the thick iron door handle and stepping inside the library.

 

Immediately, he’s hit with a wall of scent, a mix of paper, mildew, and something musty he can’t quite put his finger on. There’s maybe three other people in the building with him, including the librarian, who’s so thin-skinned and frail she seems more like a resident of the cemetery that he and Ten hang around than a living citizen of Blackwell.

 

Johnny walks his way to the back softly, quietly, so as not to disturb the dust that’s settled on every surface of the building, and stops in the historical nonfiction section. He grabs a few books, finds an empty table (which is all but two of them), and starts to read.

 

Two hours later, he’s starting to get frustrated. He’s only got another couple hours before he’s due to meet up with Ten, and he’s found close to nothing, having gone through most of the limited selection the little library has. He’s close to giving up, when he hears a ghost of a whisper, and the faintest of touches on his shoulder.

 

“Excuse me, young man, you seem like you could use some assistance,” the whisper says, and when Johnny turns, he finds himself face to face with the corpse of a librarian he’d seen as he entered, “is there anything I could help you with?

 

“Um, yeah, actually,” he starts, avoiding making contact with her eyes, magnified a horrifying amount by the intensity of her prescription,”I was wondering if you had anything from around Blackwell’s colonial era?”

 

“Speak up, sonny, my ears ain’t as good as they used to be.” She croaks, paper thin hand settling on his shoulder, raising his level of discomfort immediately. He repeats himself, a bit louder this time, and she beckons him to follow her back into the office of the little library. He follows her snails pace until they reach a cool room containing a piece of machinery that looks older than Johnny himself, and shelves filled with boxes upon boxes of what seem to be film rolls.

 

“Colonial era, colonial era, where’s the colonial papers.” She mutters under her breath, letting out a small, scratchy ‘aha!’ when she finds what she’s looking for, coming up victorious with her hand clawed around a roll of film almost identical to all the others in the room, save for the number on the label.

 

“You ever used microfilm before?” She asks, motioning for Johnny to step aside when he shakes his head no. She inserts the film into the machine, making way for Johnny to take a seat at the tattered chair in front of the machine, “Turn the dial to look between papers, sound simple enough? Come get me when you’re done.”

 

He thanks her as she leaves, turning back to the machine curiously. He twists the dial, and suddenly, he understands. The film contains pictures of old news clippings, particular one dating all the way back to the sixteen seventies. He flips through some of them, finally finding some resolution to some of the questions he’s had for his book.

 

He’s about ready to pack up and head to meet with Ten when he comes upon a peculiar clipping, stopping him in his tracks. The headline seems like nothing much, simply mentioning two recent deaths. Reading further into the article, however, details the deaths of a mother and son through witch trials, mother burned at the stake, son drowned. What truly shocks him, though, chills him to the bone, is the familiar face he spots in the black and white family portrait under the headline, lips curved into a familiar cheshire smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do you hear that? that's the noise of shit hitting the fan  
> what'd you think? were you able to figure out ten before it was revealed? please feel free to come talk to me on twitter or curiouscat if you wanna chat about this, thank you so much for reading!! see you next week on johnny making exponentially dumber decisions <3333


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNINGS IN THIS CHAPTER FOR GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE, BREIF MENTION OF CHILD ABUSE, AND MURDER LIKE REALLY GRAPHIC DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE  
> longest chapter yet babey!!! im super excited for you guys to see this, its ten pov and the chapter ive been waiting to write since even before chapter one was finished and i love it so much  
> just a note in advance, the thing with the binding but its what showed up when i did research so just go with it  
> please enjoy!! <333

 

1692

 

This wasn’t exactly what Ten’d had in mind for the night. 

 

He’d finally gone to bed after a long day of hard labor, filling each and every moment with work in order to distract himself from the dark thoughts that were plaguing his mind. He knew that if he let himself think, he’d find himself spiralling into a hole he wasn’t sure he’d be able to dig himself out of, a vacuum which had been left by the recent death of his late mother. 

 

She’d been falsely accused of being a witch by the corrupt governor of their town, an accusation which had cost her her life. They’d burned her alive at the stake, claiming if she were a witch, she would not burn. He’d cried and screamed till his vocal cords gave out, and it had taken all the strength of his father and sister to hold him back from the pyre. He’d sat there for hours after all the other townspeople had left, unfeeling as the late autumn night numbed him to the core, staring blankly at the ashes as the moon crawled across the sky, eventually stringing the dawn along with it.

 

His mother had always been his rock, his constant through all of his hardships, his pain. He’d been closer to her than he’d been to any other person in his life, even his sister, who’d always been their fathers daughter, and she’d shaped him into the person he was today. She’d cared for him when he’d contracted influenza, risking her own health to spoon-feed him her homemade meat stew. It’d always been his favorite. She’d taught him to sew, cook, and even let him wear one of her best gowns once in secrecy, the things that his father considered shameful for a man, the things he’d tried to beat out of him. She’d watched over him and his sister their entire lives, helped them grow, encouraged them to be the best versions of themselves they could be, their happiest selves. She’d always been his one, unwavering constant, the one person he could count on to support him through anything. And now she was gone. 

 

As the darkness began to drain from the sky, Ten’s sister made her way into his vision quilt tucked fast under her arm, approaching the ashes slowly, crouching near the edge. After a moment, she rose, carefully padding her way over to Ten. As she neared him, right fist clenched, he saw her red eyes, tear tracks making their way down her cheeks, and he was struck with the realization that he was not the only one suffering in this event. He couldn’t believe he’d been so selfish as to spend the entire night here, away from his father, his sister, his  _ family _ . 

 

She reached him, and all at once, they were tightly wrapped up in each others embrace, clutching at each other, desperately searching for some semblance of comfort. He let out a long, shaking breath, pulling her closer as he squeezed his eyes shut, beginning to well up with tears for the first time since her death, having been in too much shock to react. 

 

She pulled away softly, wrapping him in a thick quilt drenched in the warm, familiar scent of home as she rose back on the balls of her feet, crouching. Holding out her left hand to Ten, she slowly unfurled her fingers, and what she held brought a whole new wave of tears springing from his eyes. Resting in her palm lay a charred rosary, all too familiar to him despite the state it was in. Sniffling, he looked up at her as she slowly began to lower the rosary around his neck, shocking away once he realized what she intended to do.

 

“I can’t, it was hers, it’s hers, I can’t-”

 

“She would’ve wanted you to have it, Tennie, you know that.” She interjected, waiting for his response. Looking down at the object once more, he nodded resolutely, blue lips trembling.

 

“Okay,” he mumbled, voice raw and tight. The rosary was lifted over his head, and the feeling of its weight settling round his neck held a note of finality, the reality of the situation snaking itself around his neck, constricting, restricting his airflow. He brought a hand up to the rosary, gingerly resting the tips of his fingers on the scorched wood. His sister let out a shaking sigh, sniffling before rising to her full height, extending a hand out towards him.

 

“Let’s get you inside, it’s freezing,” She said, nodding her head in the direction of their cabin. Ten didn’t want to return to an empty, hollow home, a home where something would always feel askew, an itch that he’d never be able to scratch. He didn’t want to return to a home that would never hold the same warmth, the same comfort as it once did. Her gaze softened, and she stretched her arm further, urging him to take her hand.

 

“Ten, please. We’ll get through this, you have to come inside, you’re going to freeze. I can’t lose you too.” 

 

He let out a breath, slowly reaching out to grab her hand. She helped him up, and they began to make their way home, Ten stumbling over the ends of the quilt he held fast around himself every few steps.

 

They’d gone home, and they’d spent the hours til it was necessary they return to their chores sitting together as a family, all three of them, trying to garner comfort from each other. Eventually, Ten’s father returned to the cooperage, his sister beginning to toil over the pile of clothing in need of mending, a job which would now require double the work on her part, and Ten was urged to return to his chores as well. The other people of their town would not grant them any leniency in their work, seeing his mother as a pest that’d been rid of rather than a person with worth. Instead, he’d lain in bed for days, not moving to do more than eat less than necessary or retreat to the outhouse. 

 

After the sixth day, his sister staged an intervention, claiming that Ten needed to find a healthier way to cope than letting himself waste away. His father simply stared disappointedly from the doorway. He started by helping his sister hang herbs to dry and curing meat, actions accepted by his father on the premise that it was a temporary step in pulling him away from rotting away in bed. Slowly but surely, he’d worked his way up to manual labor, finding that the burn of his muscles took his mind off things, if even only for a little bit. He’d do whatever odd jobs he could to help take the edge off, milking cows and chopping wood til his body was screaming and he was able to slip off into a dreamless sleep, waking the next morning to continue the cycle. 

 

This was where he found himself now, bleary eyed after having been startled awake in the dead hours of the night. It takes him a moment to realize what woke him from his slumber, sitting up confusedly, but he soon notes the slam of the front door into the wall and the sounds of his father engaged in an argument with another man, angry voices growing increasingly more raucous.

 

Suddenly, his sister bursts into his room, frantically ripping the blanket off of him and pulling him to his feet, not pausing when he stumbles over the end. Ripping his hand from her grasp, he crosses his arms tightly, thin cotton button up a sharp contrast in warmth from the layers of quilts he’d been previously buried under.

 

“What is going on?” He asks, making an attempt to return to the comfort of his bed, quickly stopped by his sister trying to drag him through the door once more.

 

“Ten, we have to  _ go _ , I’ll explain later, please, they can’t take you too,” she stutters out, eyes wide and frenzied, “Ten,  _ please _ .”

 

“No, tell me what’s happening, then we go,” He says resolutely, wanting to know what could call for ripping him out of bed this early. Rather than responding, she stares at the space behind Ten, eyes growing round with horror. Before he can turn, or even ask what she’s looking at, there’s an iron grip holding his wrists together, swinging him around and pushing him out of the room, towards the front door of the house. Everything is a blur as he’s forced through the door, and he briefly sees his sister, screaming and struggling in the arms of his father, an image that was all too familiar to him. 

 

He’s pushed out into the frigid street, bruising grip continuing to push him forwards as people begin to accumulate around him, pace not faltering no matter how many times he trips, bare feet being sliced open upon the sharp rocks and sticks that litter the ground. He still is not sure what he’s done to invoke this treatment, but he doesn’t ask, knowing his questions are more than likely to go unanswered. 

 

What seems like hours of painful footsteps and clamorous cheers later, he begins to hear the quiet roar of a faraway river, growing louder with every agonizing step he takes. The further they go, the less he connects with reality, the cheering crowd growing louder mixed with the white noise of the river creating an overwhelming static, life playing out as if he’s looking at still shots from a camera.

 

They reach a cobbled bridge, horde of people making way for Ten to be dragged to the center, where governor Seo is waiting with a jovial expression on his face. He motions for the man behind Ten to free him, and he crumbles to the ground instantly, face hitting the bitter cobblestone as he curls into a ball. Governor Seo approaches him slowly, leisurely, staring down at him with the eyes of a predatory bird, sharp yet filled with amusement. He waits for a moment, standing still next to where Ten lie, before driving the toe of his boot into his side, knocking the wind out of him. 

 

“Stand. We have business.” 

 

Ten struggles to his feet, wheezing as he grabs onto the edge of the bridge to steady himself, townspeople jumping back from him as if he had the plague. Behind him, the man who dragged him to the bridge stands tall, and he’s in too much pain to even consider running if he hadn’t been there. Slowly, he makes his way to the center, where the governor stands, cold eyes swimming with amusement.

 

“Ten, do you know why we have brought you here today?” He asks simply, sickly sweet smile stretching across his face, unnatural. 

 

“Sir, it is the middle of the night, and no, I do not know why I’ve been dragged here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a nice bed waiting at h-”

 

“I’m afraid you won’t be returning to your home, my dear boy.”

 

The sharp glint in the governor's eye strengthens double fold, and he sweeps his arm out in a gesture to the crowd, a ringmaster introducing his next act.

 

“Ten Leechiyapornkul, due to reasonable suspicion, you have been sentenced to ordeal by water, in order to confirm whether or not you are a witch,” Ten freezes, and his eyes begin to glaze over, unsure of how to comprehend the weight of the words that have just been thrown at him, how casual they were, as if he were announcing the breakfast options, rather than sentencing a man to certain death, “If he is to float with his hands and feet bound, he is a witch. If he is to sink, he will have perished for a good cause.”

 

Slowly, his senses come back to him, and he finds himself being pushed by the man from before and another of the governors lackeys, people crowing and cheering all around them. He’s pulled to the center of the bridge, stopped by the edge by the time he finds his voice.

 

“You’re a coward, Seo.”

 

The governor turns sharply, quickly masking his livid expression with one of calm amusement. He holds himself with an air of regality, practically gliding over to where Ten leans against the bridge. 

 

“What was that, my dear boy?” There’s an underlying threat in his otherwise sweet tone, his eyes, alight with anger, being the only indication that he is anything other than calm and collected.

 

“I said, you’re a  _ coward _ , Seo,” he repeats, looking up at the governor defiantly, willing himself not to show any semblance of pain in his expression, “Rather than dealing with those you don’t like, you get rid of them through fictional witch hunts. I’ve never even done anything to you, you just don’t like me because I’m my mother's son,” he’s grasping at straws, but that seems to hit him where it hurts, facade falling for a split second, “If you couldn’t have her, nobody could, huh? Couldn’t bear to see the woman you loved live a happy life without you?” The governor is fuming now, facade having been replaced with a deep scowl.

 

“Tie him.” he orders curtly, teeth clenched. Ten is flanked by the men that pushed him up the bridge, and he’s pushed to his knees, continuing to talk even as they begin to bind him hand to foot, rope burning him as they lash it around his fingers and to the toes of the opposite foot.

 

“Oh, I must be the biggest insult to your pride, aren’t I?” They’re finished binding him, beginning to stand him up awkwardly, and he’s so cold, so tired. The winter air is biting him as much as the ropes, as much as the cuts that span the soles of his feet, and he’s tired, but he won’t give power to this man, this repulsive being that stands before him, “You weren’t good enough for her then, and now, you never will be.”

 

There’s a harsh crack and a gasp from the crowd as the governor slaps Ten across the face, head whipping to the side. He calls the order for them to end it, and as Ten is sitting there, propped on the edge, both of the bridge and of his fate, he turns his head to the governor, spits in his face, and begins,

 

“I swear to you, I will not rest until I have hunted you down, you and every last one of your ancestors, I will not rest until your bloodline bleeds dry, until your soul feels the pain that my family has felt, tenfold.”

 

He stares the governor dead in the eyes, not breaking contact despite his fear, despite the cold, despite the roar of the horde of people that surrounds them. He stares him in the eyes as they push him over the edge, holding the contact for as long as he can in that split second before he’s past the tipping point, the point of no return. Then, he braces himself for the water, the cold that is to come with it.

 

After the initial shock of the cold, Ten feels nothing. It’s as if he’s been suspended in time, numb to the world, unfeeling of the pain he’d expected to feel. He wonders if he’s dead, already, blissfully accepting the numbness he’s been granted.

 

Then, all at once, the numbness shatters as his back hits a rock, and he’s shocked back to reality, coughing and spluttering as he’s tossed and rolled by the current, hitting rocks upon rocks and being turned so violently he feels as if he’s going to throw up, but his body is too busy sucking in water to vomit, and his chest burns and burns and the cold burns his skin and he’d thought he’d escaped the fate of his mother, but everything  _ burns _ , and he doesn’t know how much more of this he can take, tossing and turning and choking and burning, and suddenly he hits one final rock, and he doesn’t have to take any more. 

 

☽

 

Three days later, they fish Ten’s body out of the water, purple and bloated, and out of fear, they make his grave outside the borders of the churches graveyard, too scared of god to bury him within it, yet too scared of his spirit to not bury him at all.

 

Life in Blackwell returns to normal, townspeople going about their days through the motions, living their lives in peace and harmony. Ten’s father and sister make their way to a colony further North, out of fear that they may risk facing the same fate as Ten and his mother. Overall, all is well, and the town seems to have found its peace, working like clockwork.

 

Three months later, the governor turns up dead in the river, eyes gouged out with a smudged, black cross printed onto his cheek, mark clear as day despite the current of the river. They bury him next to Ten, and pretend to forget. All the new buildings begin to pop up further and further away from the river, church going into disrepair, and eventually, the entire city seems to have never stood where it once was, rather than having moved.

 

Still, the stories are passed on in the little town, generation by generation, and every once in a while, a stranger may wash up in the river soon after calling themselves a Seo. Yes, the town turns a blind eye, but they never forget. 

 

Ten meets few strangers through his years at the bridge, and he waits, and he learns from the few, always curious about the changing times, the progression of the human race. He learns, and he waits, and he waits, and he waits. Time goes on, and he continues to wait, taking down the few of that cursed bloodline that he manages to get his hands on. As all this time has passed, he’s grown stronger, learning how to control the world around him, how to cope with what he’s become. He’s learned how to hide himself from human view when needed, if ever a visitor passes through that he doesn’t quite care enough about. He learns how to interact with the environment, how to touch again, how to hold. He learns, and he waits, and he’s certain he’s become a stone fixture of the bridge itself by now, sitting on the ledge as he swings his legs with abandon, enjoying the forest without a care in the world. He’s sitting there, enjoying himself, oblivious to the world around him, when from behind him comes, 

 

"Hey, watch out on the edge over there! That’s really dangerous, a fall from that high would probably be fatal, you know, be careful!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what did you think??? this chapter is honestly everything ive been wanting to write all rolled up into one mess, please come talk to me on twitter or curiouscat or in the comments i really love hearing what you guys think <33 sadly enough, were actually nearing the end of blackwell, but i really hope you enjoyed this chapter!! as always, thank you so much for reading, see you next week <3333


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW FOR SUICIDE IN THIS CHAPTER//  
> we've reached the last official chapter of blackwell!! next weeks update will be an epilogue, so we aren't quite done yet, but i'm really excited for all of you to see how this all pans out. sorry the chapter was late, i was working on it last night but i was really about to fall asleep writing and i wanted to do it justice so i put off uploading, hope u understand  
> please enjoy!! <33

Johnny stared down into the swirling, inky depths of his coffee, contemplating his next move. He was conflicted, not sure how to feel about the contents of the article. His first instinct had been to disregard it, that of course it was an article from hundreds of years ago, there was no correlation between its contents and his Ten. If anything, it was most likely some long gone ancestor of Ten’s, familiar features drawing up from the roots of a family tree. However, he could not shake the crawling, itching feeling that had been nagging at the furthest corner of his mind, setting off the quietest of alarm bells. He knew it was too similar to be a coincidence, the clothes, the rosary hung around the woman's neck, identical to the one around his own. 

 

His first instinct had been to pull out his phone and text Jaehyun, confide in his closest friend as he always had. However, he’d remembered their last conversation before he could send the message, and had angrily shoved his phone back into his pocket. Jaehyun didn’t like Ten as was, he didn’t want to give him any further ammunition against his lover. He needed to give himself more time before he could talk to Jaehyun calmly, not wanting to risk further damage their relationship. He was still his best friend, afterall, they would resolve things once Johnny cooled down and Jaehyun finally came to his senses and realized that Johnny was capable and deserving of a normal relationship

 

He was snapped from his reverie by the sound of a plate being set on the table, waitress wordlessly setting down his food and walking away. He hadn’t ordered, yet she’d brought him the correct order out of habit anyways, still not having spoken to him in weeks. It hurt, knowing that there was no longer anyone in the town other than Ten that truly cared about him.

 

He ate his food in silence, contemplating his situation. The more he thought, the more ridiculous he sounded to himself. There was no way that Ten, his Ten, could have anything to do with that boy in the paper. Still, there was that awful, sinking feeling settling into the recesses of his mind, telling him that no, something was wrong. He decided to just confront Ten himself about it, knowing that he would listen to his worries, no matter how far fetched the ideas were, knowing that he could trust him to put his mind at ease.

 

With that, he finished his breakfast, leaving a tip for the waitress for her troubles, despite the sudden halt in their friendship. He left the diner, pulling his coat fast and deciding to spend some time wandering through town to kill some time before he was due to meet up with Ten.

 

As he walked, he passed by the towns only park, a few children playing on the set, bundled up in layers of soft clothing. It brought a smile to Johnny’s face, seeing the joyous looks on such small faces. He’d always had a soft spot for children. It reminded him of how he and Jaehyun had first met, that day on which Jaehyun had excitedly dragged a seven year old Johnny to the swings that would become their preferred hangout for the next few years, excitedly dubbing Johnny his new best friend. Johnny had gone with the flow, and by the end of the day, Johnny was holding an icecream cone in one hand, and the hand of a six year old Jaehyun in the other, arms swinging excitedly. Their mothers had exchanged numbers, and the rest had been history. Johnny had been there when Jaehyun won his first little league game, and later, Jaehyun for Johnny’s first volleyball game. They’d been each others first person they’d come out to, been there for each other during their respective first heartbreaks, and had watched each other graduate despite the age gap. 

 

He hoped Jaehyun would apologize soon.

 

Johnny made his way through town, looking at the little storefronts he’d seen a thousand times, shivering in his coat at the particularly harsh gusts of biting wind. He stopped in a little bakery to buy himself a pastry for later, and then, he was off, having passed enough time to get to his meetingplace with Ten at an acceptable time. They would talk, and Ten would ease his worries, and then they’d be as good as always. Ten would always be there for him. 

 

☽

 

As Johnny pulled up to the church, he contemplated his options on how to bring up the article. He could try and work it into a conversation, hint at it and see if Ten caught on. That wouldn’t work, however, if it was in fact some long passed ancestor, and he quickly scratched the option. As he stepped out of the car, he settled on just asking Ten straight up. He knew he wouldn’t be offended at something so obscure, so irrelevant.

 

He was heading to the head of the trail that led to the bridge when his eye was caught by a strange glint coming from somewhere near the church. He furrowed his brows, moving to investigate the light, his curiosity getting the better of him. He found himself in the little graveyard on the outskirts of the church land, eyes scanning through the tall, dead grass for the source of the light. His gaze settled on the culprit, and his eyes widened to saucers, crouching down to rest a hand gently on the object. Resting on one of the unmarked, worn down gravestones, was a delicate piece of jewelry, silver chain inlaid with small purple gemstones. 

 

Gulping, he hooked a finger around the chain, holding it up to eye level. His heart sank to his stomach, and he felt winded, as if someone had punched him directly in the diaphragm. The boy in the newspaper clipping had already been too familiar, this was too much. He needed to talk to Ten.

 

He made his way back to the trail, hunching down and crossing his arms in an attempt to conserve warmth. This had to be the coldest day this winter had seen yet, bitter wind carrying his clouds of breath with it, his eyes stinging, lungs searing. He wished he’d had a way to get in contact with Ten beforehand, talk him into spending the day in one of their houses rather than sitting on cold stone, river splashing them from below. However, he wouldn’t let a little cold get in the way of his already limited time with Ten. They should really get him a phone.

 

Before long, he found himself approaching the ever so familiar bridge, already looking forward to spending time with his boyfriend. Those thoughts, however, were cut short when Johnny arrived at the bridge, a certain boy noticeably missing. 

 

Ten had never missed a day.

 

Johnny decided to wait for a little bit, pushing himself up onto the cold stone wall of the bridge. He was there quite early, maybe Ten just hadn’t made it yet. It was extremely cold, after all, it would make sense if he were to arrive a bit late. Johnny hunched over, licking over a split in his lip as he brushed his hands over his sleeves, trying to create warmth through friction. Ten would come. He always did. They would talk, and then they’d laugh about Johnny’s stupid little assumption, and everything would be fine. 

 

Sure enough, twenty minutes of teeth chattering later, Johnny saw a familiar form approaching in the distance, smile warm and wide, bare feet ghosting over frozen ground and roots. Johnny’s face broke out into a broad smile at the sight, helping pull Ten up onto the edge once he reached the bridge, pressing a greeting into his cheek in the form of a kiss. Ten giggled, leaning back in to capture his lips in a kiss before pulling him into a hug, arms wrapped around his midsection. Johnny laughed in return, happy that he’d get to spend time with his favorite person regardless of the temperature. This should be proof enough that Johnny was overthinking the situation, but he could not shake the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of his stomach.

 

“Well, hi there,” Ten started, eyes bright, “Someone’s in a good mood today.”

 

“I’m always in a good mood with you.”

 

Ten cackled, leaning heavily into his side, looking up at him with full eyes, replying, “You’re too cheesy, you know that?”

 

“Only for you.”

 

A soft smile.

 

“Hey, you weren’t waiting for too long, were you? I’m sorry I was late, I got caught up.” Johnny sighed, wrapping an arm around his back and intertwining their fingers, caressing Tens hand with his thumb. 

 

“Nah, I’ve only been here for about twenty minutes”

 

“Okay, good.” Ten replied, seeming a bit distant. Johnny frowned, inclining his head to better face him.

 

“Hey, you good?” Ten snapped back to attention, soft smile returning to his face.

 

“Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about a conversation I had with my mom earlier, guess I spaced out.” That wasn’t right.

 

“Sorry, but, uh,” God, Johnny didn’t want to sound insensitive, but he was so confused, “isn’t your mom dead?” Ten laughed sadly, starting to swing his legs.

 

“Of course she is, silly,” he started wistfully, “... It’s the anniversary of her death. I was late because I stopped by her grave to talk to her, sorry.”

 

“God, Ten, you’re okay, I shouldn’t have been so insensitive, I’m so sorry.” Ten laughed once again, clearly unbothered by Johnnys curiosity. 

 

“You’re fine, it’s been so long it honestly doesn’t even hurt anymore. It’s just nice to talk to her sometimes, you know?”

 

“Yeah,” The itching feeling was back in the corner of his mind, reminding him of his question for Ten. This probably wasn’t the best time to ask, but he decided there might not ever be a right time with such a question. “Hey, Ten, can I ask you something?” He started nervously, unsure if this was the right thing to do. 

 

“Yeah? What is it?”

No time like the present.

 

“Well, uh, I was at the library earlier and-”

 

“You went to the library? I thought I gave you enough info for your book.” Ten looked nervous. That wasn’t a good sign.

 

“Yeah… I needed to check some old newspapers for some details, sorry about that.”

 

“...old newspapers?” Ten looked alarmed now, and Johnny was beginning to get a bit suspicious.

 

“Yeah, I had a question about something I saw in one of those,” Tens face fell, eyes wide, “I saw someone that looked… a lot like you. In one of the pictures, I mean.” Johnny dropped his face into his hands, embarrassed, “I know I’m being ridiculous but it’s been bothering me so much, could you please just tell me I’m being stupid so we can laugh at it, or tell me it was an old ancestor of yours, something,  _ anything _ ?” Johnny removed his head from his hands, looking up to gauge Ten’s reaction.

 

Ten was gone.

 

Johnny wasn’t sure how he hadn’t felt him getting up with his arm around him, but all that remain in the space next to him was empty air. He was alert instantly, head swiveling, scanning the area in search of Ten, blinking wildly. He jumped up, turning around, expecting to see the other somewhere on the trails behind the bridge. Instead, his eyes were drawn to something white in the river, a sharp contrast to the pitch depths of the river, and he clutched the stone of the bridge, leaning over in an attempt to keep his breakfast down.

 

Snagged against one of the rocks near the shore lay a body, purple green and bloated, white cotton shirt stained pink, form unmistakeable. Johnny couldn't tear his eyes away, shaking at the sight of the decayed form rolling in the current, skin wrinkled and bruised, littered with cuts and scrapes. There’s a tap on his shoulder and he startles, whirling around to face a drenched Ten, droplets of water dripping from his hair, rolling their way down his pale face. Johnny was shocked, head going between the body in the river and the boy standing in front of him, head spinning. 

 

“Wh- Are you- What’s happeni- Wh-” He began to babble, not able to form a coherent sentence. Ten smiles softly, bringing his pointer up to rest on Johnny’s lips, silencing him. He grabs Johnny’s hand, leading him back to the edge and sitting him down, leaning back into his side, soaking Johnny’s jacket through, as if it was any other meeting between the two of them. 

 

“I love you, Johnny. Don’t you love me?” He asks, looking up at Johnny from where his head rests on his shoulder. Johnny is speechless, unsure of what to do, what to say in a situation such as this. He finds himself on autopilot, going with the conversation despite the absolute mess of a situation he’s in.

 

“Of- Of course I love you, Ten,” he says shakily, body beginning to tremble due to the cold seeping into his body through the soaked edge of his jacket. He loves Ten, he’s sure he loves Ten, but he doesn’t know what to do, how to react. “Are you- What are you?” He asks, heart melting at the sight of Ten’s wide eyes. He curses himself for being weak in a situation such as this. 

 

“I’m me, Johnny. I’m Ten.” Ten replies, absentmindedly tracing the veins along Johnny’s hand with a cold finger.

 

“I know, I know you are, but.. Are you..” He can’t bring himself to finish the sentence. Ten sighs, bringing his gaze back up to meet Johnny's.

 

“Yes, Johnny, I’m dead. If that’s what you’re asking.” Johnny’s head is spinning, and once again, he feels as if his heart has sank to his stomach. He reaches into his pocket on autopilot, pulling out Ten’s bracelet with a shaking hand and gently placing it in his lap. He isn’t sure why he does it. Nothing is making sense to him anymore.

 

“Oh, I do suppose I forgot that earlier. Thank you.” Ten takes the bracelet, opening the clasp and handing it back to Johnny, holding out a pale wrist. Johnny takes the bracelet, blankly wrapping it around Ten’s wrist, shutting the clasp. 

 

“Johnny?” Johnny meets Ten’s gaze blankly, humming in response, “Are you okay?” Johnny blinks slowly, opening and closing his mouth and drawing in a shaky breath.

 

“You’re- I don’t know how to react to this, Ten, you’re not real, this isn’t real, Jaehyun was right.” Ten frowns, reaching around to grasp Johnny’s hand firmly in his own.

 

“What are you saying, love? Of  _ course _ this is real,” he reassures, squeezing Johnny’s hand as if to prove his point, “Why would you listen to Jaehyun, Johnny. You know he doesn’t love you. You know he doesn’t think you deserve what we have. He doesn’t want us to be together. Don’t you want us to be together, Johnny?” 

 

Johnny lets out another sigh, running his thumb against Ten’s hand once more, confirming to himself that the other is real. 

 

“Of course I want us to be together, I just don’t see how that would work. Tell me how to make it work, Tennie, I want us to work.” He pleads, wanting some semblance of guidance in this mess of a situation. 

 

“Oh, Johnny, I think you know,” Ten croons, gently hopping up from the wall, moving to stand in front of Johnny as he takes his other hand, leaning forward to kiss him softly. Johnny leans forward, sighing into Ten’s mouth, appreciative of the small gesture of normalcy in the midst of this mess. Ten pulls away first, letting go of one of Johnny’s hands to gently tap a finger against his nose, laughing breathily. Johnny smiles for a moment, distracted by how absolutely gone he is for the boy in front of him, but he soon remembers the circumstance they are in, smile dropping. 

 

“Ten I’m- I don’t know… what about the others? Jaehyun?” He asks, conflicted. Ten just smiles his cheshire smile and strokes the back of his hand down Johnny’s face, translucent against flushed skin. 

 

  
“They don’t care about you, Johnny. They won’t even bat an eye,” Ten whispers, taking Johnny’s hand back in his own, “Don’t you want to be with me, Johnny? They don’t care, they never did. I am the only one who loves you,” His gaze is intense, burning itself into Johnny’s memory, and Johnny listens, taking in the words he’s given without a sliver of doubt in his mind, “Jaehyun was your friend because you were convenient, yes, but as soon as you had someone else to focus on, he told you what he really thought. He didn’t think you were worthy of love, did he, Johnny? Didn’t think you were good enough?” He waits for Johnny’s response, a small, defeated, “No, he didn’t,” before continuing.

 

“The waitress, Donghyuck, they don’t care about you. They tossed you aside as easily as an apple core once they were bored of you, didn’t they. Someone who truly loved you would never toss you away like that. I would never toss you away like that.” 

 

Johnny listens to Ten, listens to what he’s saying, and it makes sense, it makes so much sense, it’s the only thing that’s made sense to him in this situation. It’s his only viable option. 

 

“Your other friends back at home, they haven’t called you, have they love. They don't care. I’m the only one that cares about you. I love you, Johnny. Don’t you love me?”

 

“I love you.” He’s staring into the distance, replies robotic, but he means it, more than he’s meant anything he’s said in this entire conversation so far. 

 

“Don’t you want to be together?” Ten’s letting go of his hands, placing them in his lap, and he feels off balance, swaying with the wind and closing his eyes as Ten cards a hand through his hair gently. 

 

“I want to be together. I want to be with you.”

 

Ten smiles, taking removing his hand from Johnny’s head and returning it to his side. 

 

“We can be together, Johnny. It’s okay. It won’t hurt them, Johnny, they won’t care. You know what to do.”

Johnny sucks in a breath, opening his eyes, locking his gaze with Ten’s. He looks at Ten, looks at his love, his widening smile. Ten nods, and Johnny knows, and his head is clearer than it’s been all week, all month. 

 

He lets out a breath, closes his eyes, and lets himself fall past the edge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please note that johntens relationship in this obviously isn't supposed to be portrayed as healthy, and that if any of your partners ever tries to convince you that they are the only person who cares about you, you can not stand for that  
> what'd you think? ive honestly been anticipating writing this chapter since i started, even moreso than i was for last chapter  
> please feel free to come talk to me on twitter, curiouscat (linked on my twitter), or in the comments  
> i really hope you enjoyed <33

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! drop a comment, or come join me on twitter  
> playlist:  
> [spotify](https://open.spotify.com/user/coffeeandcopics/playlist/28I93pkCJ7ElU53bTaBAum?si=dh7ozMNmSNWb_nQ3A1DuHw)  
> [apple](https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/blackwell/pl.u-yZyVW5mTYMLEK8L)
> 
> note: not a super cohesive playlist and i’m gonna go ahead and put a yeehaw music warning but this is basically just what i listen to while i write this 👉👈 (disclaimer: i do Not enjoy country music)


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